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Austria- Hungary 
and the War 



r. 



Austria- Hungary 
and the War 



1915 

NEW YORK 

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN CONSULATE-CJKNERAL 

24 State Strket 






0. OF 

JAN 28 «915 



^\ 



•sN 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

Servia's Permanent Conspiracy and the " Mask Fallen 
from the Face of Russia " 

By COUNT ALBERT APPONYI 

[Count Albert Apponyi,for 44 years one of the leading figures of Hungarian 
public life, was formerly Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament and later Minister 
of Education, and is a statesman of international repute, known all over the world 
for his activities on behalf of international arbitration, having been for years one 
of the active leaders of the Interparliamentary Peace Union.] 

I consider it highly important that the case for Austria- 
Hungar3% in the present contHct of nations, should be put before 
the American public with minute precision. 

We are all agreed in abhorring war and in deploring the out- 
break of a catastrophe the like of which historj' has never wit- 
nessed. Those who are responsible for it will forever remain 
branded with a stigma of infamy which no amount of military 
or political success can wipe off their foreheads. Fechng as 
strongly as I do on that point, devoted as I am to the peace 
ideal, I consider myself qualified to proclaim before the whole 
world that my countr}- is free from guilt in the horrible contest 
which has been forced upon her, and that she can face it with 
all the moral power of a pure conscience. 

Servia's Territorial Ambitions End in the Present War 

The direct cause of the outbreak is Servia's insane ambition 
to extend her dominion over those southern provinces of Austria- 
Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina to begin with, Croatia and 
the Slovene countries to follow, where South Slavs live in great 
numbers. Never could a small country hke Scrvia nourish such 
designs against a great Power, unless it felt sure of being sup- 
ported by some other great Power. Recent developments have 
shown that Servia had good reasons to expect such support. On 
behalf of the mad ambitions, not warranted even by the claims 
of racial kinship, since the Roman Catholic Croats generally 
abhor Servia, a constant agitation was organized in the afore- 
mentioned parts of Austria and Hungary. The origin of this 

3 



4 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

agitation can be traced as far back as the accession of the Kara- 
georgevich dynasty to the Servian throne. Under the Obreno- 
vitch rule, Servia cultivated friendly relations with Austria- 
Hungary, to whom she was largely indebted for the recognition 
of her indejjcndence by the Berlin treaty of 1878. Things took 
a dilTerent shape when the last C)breno\-itch king and his wife 
were murdered by military conspirators, and the present King, 
Peter Kanigeorgcvich, unhesitatingly accepted the crown from 
the blood-stained hands of their n^urderers. For a short time 
the conscience of Europe seemed to wake, or at least a feeling 
of nausea prevailed among the civilized nations. King Peter 
found it difficult to enter into diplomatic relations with the 
governments of Europe. Russia alone did not scruple to take 
liim for granted. The other Powers had to follow, England last 
of all. Finally recognition became universal. 

The Permanent Conspiracy Against Austria-Hungary 

From that time, Servia has been the seat of a permanent 
conspiracy against Austria-Hungary. Associations were formed 
for the "liberation of the South Slavonic brethren" in Austria- 
Hiuigary; agents were sent to undennine among our fellow 
citizens of South Slavonic race the feelings of allegiance to their 
country; wherever a traitor could be found among them, his 
services were enlisted; Bosnia and Herzegovina were almost 
openly claimed. These two Turkish provinces had been in- 
tnisted to Austria-Hungary's care by the Berlin treaty of 1878, 
because only the impartial rule of a Western Power could secure 
j)eace and hberty in a country inhabited by Mohammedans, 
Clreek Orthodox, and Roman Catholic Christians. As a matter 
of fact, they throve and developed under the enlightened govern- 
ment of Austria-Hungary t(j a degree of welfare Tinknown in any 
other part of the Balkan peninsula. Nevertheless, SerA'ia took 
hardly any pains to hide her covetousness concerning these 
])r()\inccs, where, under her rule, two-thirds of the population 
would be submitted to. the same tyranny of racial and religious 
intolerance wliich the unhappy Bulgarians of Macedonia are 
experiencing at her hands. It was this covetousness which 
brought us to the verge of war in iqoS, when Bosnia and Herze- 
go\ma were formally annexed to Austria-Hungary. 

That was done precisely to shut the door against intrigues 
feeding on their ambiguous juriflicai status, which maintained 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 5 

the Sultan's nominal sovereignty over them, while the whole 
power and the responsibilities of sovereignty belonged to Austria- 
Hungary. From the standpoint of international law, the annexa- 
tion was certainly not exceptionable. 

Turkey, whose nominal rights were set aside, had a right to 
protest, and so had the signatory powers of the Berlin treaty, 
but Servia had absolutely no voice in the matter. No right of 
hers was invaded, no legitimate interest of hers impaired; only 
mad pretensions were thwarted and unfair opportunities lessened. 
Still, it was Servia whose outcries, echoed by Russia, endangered 
the peace of Europe. Everybody knows how that first outbreak 
ended. Russia, Servia's patron and inspirer, recoiled at that 
time from the conflict with Germany which aggression against 
Austria-Hmigary would have implied. So Servia had to declare 
herself disinterested in the arrangements concerning Bosnia, and 
willing properly to fulfil toward Austria-Hungary the duties of 
good neighborship. It was largely due to the exertions of the 
Hungarian Government, to which I belonged at that time, that 
Austria-Hungary accepted these verbal apologies and pledges, 
and that peace, or rather the semblance of peace, was preserved 
for some years more. I now almost regret this decision of ours. 
Had Servia's impudent behavior been chastised then, as it 
deserved to be, the present general conflict might have been 
averted. On the other hand, Austria-Hungary would not have 
shown that almost superhuman forbearance in which lies her 
clearest vindication. Anyhow, it is important to bear in mind 
that Servia's pretensions and designs brought matters to a crisis 
six years ago, and that she escaped punishment only through 
a solemn promise of correct behavior. 

How was that promise kept? By doing worse from jear to 
year, by developing with more energy still the propaganda of high 
treason among Austria and Himgary's South Slavonic citizens. 
Still more, since the results of such merely political work ripened 
too slowly, the pace was mended by setting up an additional 
organization for political assassination, headed by mihtary and 
non-inihtary officials of the Servian Kingdom. The thing would 
seem almost incredible but for the fact that the present Servian 
King's ndc is based on murder, and that murderers are, or were, 
among his chief advisers. A government boasting of an origin 
like this must be expected to take a lenient view of political 
assassination. The matter was brought to light by Archduke 



6 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

Franz Fcrdinancrs assassination. This dreadful crime, as has 
been established by the judicial inquiry, was not the work of 
a single fanatic. It was the carefully prepared result of a wide- 
spread consjjiracy, centered in a great Servian national organiza- 
tion, the "Narodna Obrana," whose chairman is a general in 
active service, and whose rules contain a paragraph of dark 
meaning, bidding j-oung men to prepare for "some big deed on 
behalf of the national cause." Well, Archduke Franz Ferdinand's 
murderers, all of them affiliated with the aforesaid organization, 
were prepared for the "big deed," and they performed it success- 
fully. AH the implements for the murder came from Servian 
army stores; bombs of the same origin were found hidden in 
many places; not a single accomplice of the crime could be laid 
hands upon on Servian ground; they found protection there 
instead of prosecution. 

If circumstantial evidence has an\' meaning, the case against 
official Servia seems to be made out by these facts. But, what 
is more, the lamented Archduke's assassination was not the first, 
but, within two years, the fourth, attempt organized by the 
same gang of murderers against the lives of faithful public 
servants in the southern parts of Austria and Hungary. 

Now, in the name of all that is human and just and fair, 
for how many years more should we have submitted to this? 
How many assassinations more should we have left unprevented, 
unpunished? \\'hat nation, big or small, can tolerate the setting 
up in her neighborhood of a whole machinery of treason and 
destruction, the organization of a permanent conspiracy against 
her moral cohesion, with murder lurking at every street corner, 
threatening the individual safety of her most valued citizens? 
Austria-Hungary had tolerated it long enough to feel her strength 
shaken, to see her power questioned, her destruction discounted, 
and her future ruler murdered. A little more of this and our 
fellow citizens of the South Slavonic race would have learned 
to doubt the Monarchy's capacity for defending the loyal and 
punishing the traitors; for making itself respected, even by small 
neighbors. In the face of such weakness on one side and such 
unscrupulous daring on the other, the}' might have wavered in 
their allegiance to a State unable to protect them. 

It was high time to drag out treacherous assailants from the 
dark recesses of conspiracy into the broad daylight of plain 
speaking and open doing. We had to e.xact from official Servia, 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 7 

whose moral complicity was established beyond doubt, efficient 
pledges, not words — which, in the case of confirmed liars, are 
valueless — but measures guaranteeing our tranquiUity as a nation 
and the individual safety of our faithful public servants. Such 
pledges Servia would not give. She evaded the simimons in her 
habitual manner of double dealing, granting a profusion of words, 
professions, and promises, whose mendacity was proved by ex- 
perience, but recoiling from every measure really efficient. She 
was clearly resolved to go on with her work of sneaking aggression 
and to cultivate further her well-tried methods of conspiracy. 
Austria-Hungary would have been the laughing-stock not of her 
enemies only, but of her own citizens, had she feigned to believe 
where bad faith was manifest. There was no help for it. We 
had to set aside our extreme unwillingness to adopt violent 
measures. We had to strike or to resign our right to live. 

The case was not arbitrable, nor lit to be submitted to an 
international inquiry. Before giving my support to any warlike 
step, I examined with the utmost care this side of the question, 
and, devoted though I am to the cause of Lnternational peace and 
to a constant expansion of its propaganda, I had to own that its 
arguments were of no use in the present case. Their applicability 
supposes good faith and a wish to do the right thing on both 
sides; failing these, honesty plaj's the part of a dupe. 

What could have been the result of international proceedings 
against Servia? A verdict estabUshing her malpractices and 
bidding her to desist from them. Servia, of course, would have 
professed to submit, just as she professed to be a good neighbor 
after the crisis of 1908. In fact, she would have persisted in her 
dark work, somewhat cautiously perhaps at the beginning, more 
daringly afterward; and, in a couple of years, maybe after another 
series of attempted and successful assassinations, matters would 
again have ripenefl to a crisis. Should we then again have begun 
that parody of an international procedure which settles nothing 
because the adverse party hypocritically accepts and barefacedly 
evades every decision running against it? Should we have gone 
on rotting all the while and hastening toward dissolution? Really 
we could not do that; international institutions must not be 
converted into traps where honesty is caught and dishonesty 
enjoys good fun; they are meant to insure justice, not to further 
the designs of cheats. In the face of God and man do I proclaim: 
If ever there was a case of lawful self-defense, here you have it. 



8 AUSTRIA HUNGARY AXD THK WAR 

Nailing the Blame, Once and For All — Russia Being the Accused 

But what about the uni\crsal war which grew out of a local 
conflict? Who is responsible for its horrors, for its calamities? 
The answer to this question is perfectly clear. Since Austria- 
Hungary was in a state of lawful self-defense against Servian 
aggression, those are responsible for the greater evil who espoused 
the cause of that aggression. And this is what Russia did. She 
is the great culprit. Her policy is the main fountain whence 
torrents of blood and of tears will flow. Her alHes have been 
drawn by her into the concern. Not that I wish to extenuate 
the guilt and the disgrace of highly cultured nations like France 
and England, who became in some way the patrons and the 
associates of a gang of Servian murderers. But on Russia rests 
the chief responsibility; on her head falls the great sin against 
humanity implied in this war. From her face the mask has 
fallen, unveiling the lust of power and exjiansion which inspires 
her policy and which is the real source of every unrest in Kurope. 

In her war manifesto, Russia tries to pose as the chivalrous 
defender of a weak country against a strong one. That may 
appeal to the ignorant; in truth, it is barefaced humbugging. 
When Austria-Hungary had to coerce Servia, she solemnly de- 
clared that her only aim was to win those guarantees of her own 
tranquillity which Servia would not grant, but that neither 
Servia's territory nor Scrvia's independence would sufler an}- 
permanent mutilation. After that solemn declaration, made in 
the most binding form by a Power whose word is as good as any 
deed, there remained not the smallest pretext for honest inter- 
ference. 

Still, Russia did interfere. On whose behalf? On Servia's? 
After the pledges freely given by Austria-Hungary, Servia as a 
nation needed no protection; Austria-Hungary's coercive action 
was not directed against Servia, but only against the system of 
treacherous conspiracies and murderous attempts fostered by her 
present rulers. It is these dark forces alone that were threatened 
by our action in Servia. It is therefore on behalf of these, not 
of the weaker nation, which was perfectly safe, that Russia 
interfered. Russia does not wish Servia to become a decent 
country and a loyal neighbor; Russia drew her sword to make 
it possible that the conspiracies against Austria-Hungary's safety 
and the plots of murder implied in them should go on undisturbed ; 
Russia stands behind that dark work with all her might and 



AUSTRL\-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 9 

power; it is part of her policy; through it should Austria-Hungary 
be kept in a state of constant unrest, economic difficulties and 
moral decomposition, till she became ripe for receiving the final 
blow! Because Austria-Hungary must disappear to make room 
for the program now openly proclaimed by the Czar — the luiion 
of all Slavs under Russian rule. 

So the mask has fallen. Servia is a simple outpost; behind 
her stands the policy of Russia , supporting those treacherous and 
abominable acts wliich compelled unwilling Austria-Hungary to 
make a stand for her dignity and safety. Before the tribunal of 
human conscience stands Russianism, unveiled, as responsible 
for the horrors of universal war and for the permanent unrest 
that hereafter will consume Europe's forces. The power of 
Russianism must be broken before peace can be enjoyed with 
any amount of safety, before peace institutions can work with 
any degree of efficiency. 

Well, since Providence puts its burden on our shoulders, that 
work will be done, with God's help, thorouglily. The greatness 
of the task is felt by every soul throughout Gennany and Austria- 
Hungary, and absolute conlidence reigns everywhere that our 
Joined forces will be able to fulfil it. Even in Gennany, there 
is no particular animosity against France. There is more of it 
against England, whose intervention is considered as a piece of 
revolting cynicism; but the chief object of popular resentment 
is Russia, which only shows the unerring instinct of the masses. 
And what I hear at home from simple-minded but honest and 
straightforward people like the day laborers on my own estate 
is a passionate desire to have it out once for all with Russia. 

Disintegration Talk and Universal War and Pan-Slavism 

It is clear, not from facts only, but from the Czar's explicit 
confession, that the poUcy of Russia pursues aims which can be 
attained only through universal war. The union of all Slavs under 
Russian flominion can be effected only after the disintegration 
of e.xisting poUtical bodies, Austria-Hungar}- to begin with, and 
by subjecting the non-Slav races encompassed by Slavs, such 
as the Hungarians and the Rumanians. Does that not mean 
war, horrible war, universal war, since neither the political bodies 
concerned will submit to destniction without making a desperate 
stand, nor the threatened races to subjection without fighting 
to the last? And doesn't it imply another confession of com- 



lo AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

plicity with Servia's conspiracies and crimes, wliich now appear 
quite distinctly for what they are, pioneer work on behalf of 
Russia? 

But what would Russia's dominion over the whole mass of 
Slavs, the so-called Pan-SIavist ideals, mean from the standpoint 
of the great principles and ideals of progressive humanitj-? What 
would it mean to the Slavs themselves? It would mean, if a bad 
pun is to be allowed here, their transformation into slaves; it 
would mean to those among them who are now enjoying the 
bliss of civilized Western government and Hberty a rolling down 
into the abyss of darkest tyranny; religious oppression for all 
those who do not conform to the Orthodox creed; a wiping out 
of racial differences as wide as the difference between German 
and Dutch, Italian and Spaniard; loss of every guarantee of 
individual and political liberty; arbitrary police rule which makes 
every man and woman liable to be arrested and transported 
without a trial, without a judicial verdict. 

These and other similar blessings does Russia offer to those 
who are so happy as to fall into her loving embrace. And to all 
mankind, the grouj)ing of all the forces of Slavdom under Russia's 
despotic power would mean the most horrible menace to en- 
lightenment, progress, liberty, and democracy: A peril of cultural 
retrogression, a moral and social catastrophe. 



THE ISSUES CLEARLY STATED 

Ambassador, Baron IleitgclmUlli 
•sident Roosevelt 

Abb.\zl^, September 25, 1914. 



Former Austro-Ilun^arian Ambassador, Baron IleitgclmUller, 
to Ex-President Roosevelt 



My Dear Mr. Roosevelt: 

Now I write to you at the time of a most momentous crisis 
in the world's history, and I do so impelled by the desire to talk 
with you about my country's cause and to win your just and 
fair appreciation for the same. I wish I could address my aj)peal 
to the American people, but having no standing and no ojjpor- 
tunity to do so, I address it to you as to one of America's most 
illustrious citizens with whom it has been my privilege to enter- 
tain during many years the most friendly relations. 

Since the outbreak of the war our communications with 
America are slow and irregular. In the beginning they were nil. 
From the end of July to the middle of August we received neither 
letters, telegrams, nor papers. I suppose it was the same with 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR ii 

you concerning direct news from us. Our adversaries had the 
lield all for themselves, and they seem to have made the most 
of it. To judge from what I have learned since, and from what 
I could glean in our papers, the New York press seem to have 
written about us and Gennany very much in the same tone and 
spirit as they did about you during your last presidential cam- 
paign. I have seen it stated that the Outlook published an article 
in wliich Austria-Hungary was accused of having brought about 
the war through her greed of conquest and the overbearing 
arrogance of her behavior toward Servia. I do not know whether 
I cite correctly, as I have not seen the article, and I am aware 
that you have severed your connection with the Outlook after 
your return from Brazil. I only mention the statement as an 
illustration of what I have said above, for if a review of the 
standing of the Outlook opens its columns to such a glaringly 
false accusation the daily papers have certainly not lagged behind. 

Servia Supplied the Spark 

It is natural that our adversaries should be an.xious to win 
the spnpathies of the American people. So are we. But it is 
not for this purpose that I now write to you. Sympathy is a 
sentiment, and, as a rule, not to be won by argument. What 
I want to discuss with you arc the causes of this war and the 
issues at stake. 

Undoubtedly the war broke out over our conflict with Servia, 
but this conflict was not of our seeking. We had no wish of 
aggrandizement or extension of power at the expense of Servia; 
but Servia covets territory which belongs to us, and for years 
has pursued her ends by the most nefarious and criminal means. 
The assassination of our heir to the crown and his consort was 
not an isolated fact, but only the most glaring liiok in a long 
chain of plotting and agitating against us. This attitude of 
Servia toward us dates back to the day when the gang of officers 
who murdered their own king came to power, and when it became 
their policy to keep a hold over their own people by exciting 
their ambitions against us. This policy reached its first climax 
when we declared the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
which we had occupied and developed for thirty years. You 
were in office then, and the events of the time are familiar to 
you. The crisis ended then by Servia's formal acknowledgment 
that our annexation violated none of her rights and by her 



12 AUSTRIA H UN GAR \ AND THE WAR 

promise to cultivate henceforth correct and friendly relations 
with us. This promise was not kept. The plotting continued, 
lies were disseminated about a pretended oppression of our South 
Slav j)opiilation, and associations were funned for the {)urpose 
of stirring them to discontent and, if possible, to treason. Things 
came to a second cUmax with the murder of Archduke Francis 
Ferdinand. The plot for this crime was hatched in Servia, the 
bombs and revolvers for its execution furnished there, and 
Servian officers instructed the murder candidates in their use. 
At last we could stand it no longer. What we wanted from 
Servia was the punishment of the plotters and accomplices, and 
a guarantee for normal relations in the future. 

This was the object of our ultimatum. Servia made a show 
of complying with some of our demands, but in reality her 
answer was evasive. 

Russia in the Background 

These facts are exposed and authenticated in the note which 
we sent to the Powers after having presented our ultimatum in 
Belgrade, and in the memorandum which accompanied the same. 
I do not know whether the American papers had published 
these documents at the time. To-day, they arc outstripped by 
greater events, but for the just appreciation of our proceedings 
in regard to Servia they remain indispensable. 

In reality, however, our conflict with Servia was not the 
cause of the great war now raging, but only the spark which 
brought the over-loaded powder barrel to explosion. Who talks 
of Servia to-day, and who believes that France, England and 
Jajian are making war on Germany and on us, because of Servia? 
The war broke out because Russia decided to shield Servia 
against the consequences of her provocations, and because, owing 
to preconcerted arrangements, the situation in Europe was such 
that the action of one great Power was bound to bring all, or 
nearly all, the others into the field. And again those preconcerted 
arrangements w'ere the outcome of a mass of pent-up passions 
of hatred, envy and jealousy, the like of which — all Hague con- 
ference and pacific unions notwithstanding — the world had never 
seen before. 

W' e were full)' aware of the danger which threatened us from 
Russia when we formulated our demands in Belgrade. Russia's 
population is three times as large as ours, and it was not with 
a light heart that our Emperor-King took his final resolution. 



AUSTRIA HUNGARY AND J'HE WAR 13 

Austria-Hungary a Unit 

But our national honor and our \'ery existence as a self- 
respecting Power were at stake. We could not hesitate. Now 
we are in a struggle for life and death, and we mean to carry 
it through with full confidence in the righteousness of our cause 
and in the force of our anns. In one respect, events have already 
belied the calctdations of our enemies, who counted on internal 
dissensions within our own borders. I am happy to say that 
Croatians, Slovenes and a large majority of our own Servians 
are fighting in our ranks with the same valor and enthusiasm 
as Czechs, Rumanians, Poles, Magyars and Germans. 

But why did Russia decide to assail us? During the whole 
19th century she has shown herself a ver\' shifty and unreliable 
protectress of Servia. She made use of the smaller countr\' when 
it suited her own aggressive purposes against others, and she 
dropped it whenever it served her ends. It was so at the time 
of the Turkish war of 1877, and of the Berlin Congress, and it 
remained so until with the advent of the present dynasty, Servia 
offered a sure prospect of becoming and remaining a permanent 
tool in Russia's hands and a thorn in our flesh. 

Russia is an aggressive Power. For two hundred years, she 
has extended her dominions at the cost of Sweden first, of Poland 
and Turkey afterward. Now she thinks our turn has come. 
Finding us to be in the way of her ultimate aims in the Balkan 
peninsula, she began to regard us as her enemy. For years the 
propaganda for undennining the bases of our Empire has been 
carried on in the name of Pan-Slavism. It seems that she judged 
that now the time had come to draw the consecjuenccs and to 
bring things to a final issue. With what results remains to be 
seen. 

Russia and France 

By the terms of our treaty of alliance, Germany was boimd 
to come to our assistance if we were attacked by Russia. There 
was no secrecy about that treaty. Its text had been made pubhc 
long ago, and its purely defensive character brought to the 
knowledge of the world. No more than we, did Germany enter- 
tain hostile intentions, or nourish hostile feelings against Russia. 
There was no clashing of interests to excite the first, no historical 
reminiscences to justify the second. If it is otherwise in Russia, 
it is because her present leaders lind German power in the way 



14 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

of their conquering aspirations against us. Germany, true to 
her obligations, hastened to our side when she saw us menaced, 
and when she declared war she did it because she had positive 
information that, in spite of formal and solemn assurances to the 
contrary, Russian mol>ilization was proceeding. 

The terms of the Franco-Russian alliance have never been 
made public. Whether it was concluded merely for defensive 
or also for offensive purposes, and whether France was obliged 
by her treaty to draw the sword in the present case, remains 
therefore a matter of sunnise. But there is no mystery about 
the feelings of France with regard to Germany, and no doubt 
about the greed for revenge which, during the last forty-four 
years, has swa}-ed the overwhelming majority of her people, and 
been the dominant factor of her foreign policy. It was for this 
object that she entered into her alliances and agreements, and 
it is for this cause that she is fighting now. 

It is simple hypocrisy to talk about German aggressiveness 

against France. France stood in no danger of being attacked 

by Germany if she had chosen to remain neutral in the latter's 

war with Russia. Asked whether she would do so she replied 

that her actions would be guided by her interests. The meaning 

of this reply was clear, and left Germany no choice. The formal 

declaration of war became, then, a mere niatter of political and 

mihtary convenience, and has no bearing on the moral issue of 

the case. 

But Why England? 

But why has England plunged into this war? Officially, and 
to the world at large, she has explained her resolution by Ger- 
many's violation of Belgian neutrality, and in the Royal message 
to Parliament it was solemnly declared that England could not 
stand by and passively tolerate such a breach of international 
law and obligation. 

No Austrian or Hungarian can read this declaration otherwise 
than with a mournful smile. Its futility has been exposed by 
the question which Englishmen of standing and renown have 
put to their Go\-ernment, viz. : whether they would equally have 
declared war on France if that violation of neutrality had first 
come from her side. In face of this question having remained 
unanswered, and in face of what has come to light since, about 
French preparations in Belgium, there is no need to expatiate 
on this subject. .All that there is to be said about it has been 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 15 

said by the German Chancellor in open session of the Reichstag, 
and all that may be added is the remark that, considering Eng- 
land's history and what she did before Copenhagen, in 1807, she 
of all nations should be the last to put on airs of moral indignation 
over the application of the principle that, in time of war," solus 
re publico; supreina lex rsto." 

The existence of a convention binding England to France, 
in case of war with Germany, has — as far as I know — never been 
admitted officially by England. As I see now from manifestations 
of Enghshmen disapproving of their country's participation in 
the war, the behef exists, nevertheless, that such a convention 
had been concluded. But whether England's declaration of war 
was the consequence of previously entered obligations, or the 
outcome of present free initiative, the fact remains that in the 
last resort it sprang from jealousy of Germany's growing sea 
power and commercial prosperity. This feeling was the dominant 
factor in English foreign pohcy, just as greed for revenge was in 
France. This feeling was the propelhng power for the agreements 
which England has made and for others which she endeavored 
but did not succeed to bring about. 

Why Must England Rule the Seas? 

England claims the dominion over the seas as her native 
right; and, what is more, she holds it. Her title to it is no better 
and no worse than that of the Romans when they conquered the 
world, or of the Turkish Sultans in the days of their power. Like 
them, she succeeded in making good her claim. For three cen- 
turies the nations of Continental Europe have been hating, light- 
ing and devastating one another for the sake of strips of frontier 
land and a shadowy balance of power. These centuries were 
England's opportunity, and she has made the most of it. That 
she should mean to keep what she has and hold to her maritime 
supremacy, as to the apple of her eye, is natural. Whether it is 
for the benefit of mankind that it should be so, and whether the 
world in general would not be better off if there existed a balance 
of power on sea as well as on land, does not enter into the present 
discussion. What is more to the purpose is, that in reahty, 
England's sea power stood in no danger at all. To any thinking 
and fair-minded observer it must be clear that Gemiany, hemmed 
in by hostile neighbors in the East and West, and obliged there- 
fore to keep up her armaments on lantl, would not have been 



i6 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THl'. WAR 

able to threaten England's maritime superiority for generations 
to come. If the issue has been thrown into llie balance, it has 
been done so by England's own doing. 

But it is not ordy the nascent German navy that excited the 
distrust and envy of England. German colonies and e\'ery 
German trading \'cssel seems equally to ha\-e become a thorn 
in England's side. The wish to sweep those vessels from off the 
seas, to destroy all (jcrman ports, in one word to "down'' 
Germany, has long been nourished and lately ojjenly avowed in 
England. Mr. Norman Angell's theories about the great illusion 
of the profit of modern warfare seem to ha\'e made but small 
impression on liis countrymen. 

The Causes Summed Up 

Russian lust of conquest, Trench thirst lor revenge, and 
Enghsh envy were the forces at work in the European powder 
magazine. The Servian spark ignited it, but the explosion was 
bound to come sooner or later. What alone could ha\e stopped 
it would have been England's stepping out of the conspiracy. 
That she did not do so, but, in fact became its really directing 
power, will forever remain a blot on her iiislory. 

About Japan's motives and methods I do not think it neccs- 
sar}' to write. American public opinion will hardly need any 
enlightenment on this subject. America forced Japan out of the 
isolation in wliich she had lived during centuries. I hope the 
day may not come when she will wish that she had not done so. 

The issues of the war stand in relation to its causes, and the 
same attempts have been made to distort and falsify them in 
the eyes of the American public. I have seen it stated in a New 
York paper that this war is a light between civilization and 
barbarism, and I have seen a member of the present English 
Cabinet quoted as having said that the issue was (me between 
militarism and freedom, civilization and freedom standing, of 
course, in both cases, on the side of our enemies. 

More idiotic rot - excuse the expression -I have never read 
in m\' life. What has civilization to do with Servia's murderous 
plotting against us? What with Russia's desire to shield her 
from the consequences of her aggressions and to demonstrate to 
the world that we are of no account in the Balkans, and to 
establish her own - more or less veiled — protectorate there? And 
if the case of civilization is advanced by Japan's ousting Gennany 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 17 

from Kiaocbow, wh}^ should it not be equally furthered if Japan 
did the same to England in Hongkong or Singapore, or, if the 
opportunity offered, in India itself? And a person must be indeed 
at his wits' end for arguments to proclaim Russia a standard- 
bearer of freedom in her war against us. Compare her treatment 
of Poles, Finns, Ukrainanians (Small Russians) and Hebrews 
with the freedom wliich the different nationalities enjoy in our 
Empire! And England herself ! Is it for freedom's sake that she 
holds Gibraltar and that she subjugated the Boers? 

No! Civilization and freedom have nothing to do with the 
issues at stake now, least of all in the sense as if our enemies had 
drawn the sword for their cause. It is a war for conquest and 
supremacy, stirred up b\' all the hateful passions in human nature, 
fully as much as any war that has ever been waged before. But 
we did not stir it up. We are fighting for our existence; right 
and justice are on our side, and so we trust will victory be. 

The causes of the war are clear. To make its issues still 
clearer, imagine for a moment and merely for argument's sake 
the consequences of our adversaries' being successful. Russia, 
England and Japan would remain masters of the field. Is this 
a consummation any thinking American can wish for? 

These are the considerations I wished to lay before you. 
Yours most sincerely, 

Baron L. Hengelmuller, M.P. 

AUSTRIA'S CIVILIZING MISSION 

Universal Suffrage upon the Initiative of the Emperor — 

Austria's Relations to Bosnia like those of the 

United States to Texas — Servia's 

Opposition to Austria's 

Beneficent Work 

By AN AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN DIPLOMAT 

At tliis portentous moment in history, when the activities of 
Austria-Hungary in the Near East have suddenly been made a 
world-issue by the outbreak of the most terrible war in the history 
of civihzation, the aims and methods of the dual Monarchy are 
of paramount significance. 

Situated upon the outskirts of central Europe, in the debat- 
able region between the West and the East, Austria stands in a 
peculiar sense as the connecting link between civilization and 



i8 AUSTRIA-HUXGARV AND THE WAR 

vanishing barbarism, between to-day and yesterday. The double 
eagle of Austria is the symbol that connects racial fragments in 
a civic bond which spells i)rogress and peace. The aims of Aus- 
tria, whether in the Balkans or further east, are mainly commer- 
cial and cultural. They are political only in so far as the geo- 
graphical situation of the dual Kmpire makes it incumbent upon 
her statesmen to maintain her territorial integrity and to provide 
for the normal expansion of her industrial output. 

'l"he attemi)t to centralize and Germanize the Austrian Em- 
pire as a whole has been twice made — once under Emperor 
Joseph II., toward the end of the eighteenth century, and again 
under Francis Joseph, after the suppression of the revolution 
of 1848. In each case the attempt failed, and it was abandoned 
as impracticable by the present Emperor-King. Hungary had 
always retained its old Uberties under the hegemony of the 
Magyars. By the compromise of 1867 the dual fonn of the 
Monarchy was defmitely fuxcd. So carefully were the rights of 
the various races in the ICmpire safeguarded under this readjust- 
ment that in Hungary, for instance, the Croatians were recognized 
as a separate entity, luider their own Ban or Governor, with their 
separate diet and their distinct machinery of local and provincial 
administration. 

In .\ustria proper, the constitution of 1867 created a central 
parliament in \'ienna and left a large measure of autonomy to 
the old provinces. One of the most important articles of the 
constitution guarantees to every nationality the free use of its 
language "in word and writing." By this means, it made forever 
impossible any attempt to interfere with the legitimate aspira- 
tions of the various races in the Empire. In fact, the entire 
spirit of the new constitution was to assure to each race the 
greatest and freest use of its language in its educational system, 
from the jirimary school to the university, in the diets, in the 
provincial legislatures and in the administration, excluding only 
the ministries at Vienna, and in the courts, with the sole exception 
of the Supreme Court in the Imperial Capital. 

Even to this last reservation in favor of a central authority 
an exception is made. In Polish litigation the entire process of 
litigation and judicature, including the highest court, may be 
carried on in the Polish language. 

Only in the army, common to the Empire, is there a common 
language, and that language is the Gemian. This arrangement 



AUSTRIxV-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 19 

is not based upon any propaganda, but is the outcome of the 
entirely practical consideration that an anny made up of so 
many races as is the Austro-Hungarian would be badly handi- 
capped in the perfonnance of its duties if it did not have a 
common language of command and communication. The selec- 
tion of the German language for this purpose was the logical 
outcome of the Gennan origin of the Empire. 

The tangible result of this practically unUmited freedom of 
race-development is presented by the present complexion of the 
Reichstag m Vienna. So long as the franchise was based upon 
property quahfications the votes of the landed proprietors kept 
a disunited German majority in the Reichstag, but the granting 
of universal suffrage upon the personal initiative of the Emperor 
a few years ago resulted in the return of a Slavic majority in the 
Imperial legislative chamber — a remarkable result if one is to 
beheve the persistent charges that Austria has sought to destroy 
or Gennanize the Slavic nationaUties within its boundaries. 

This presence of a Slavic majority in the chamber has brought 
about a state of affairs wherein no Austrian administration can 
neglect the wishes of the Slavic groups without being forced to 
resort to the short-hved and unpopular expedient of Imperial 
decrees. 

Thanks to its liberal treatment of the claims of contending 
nationalities, the German element in many parts of Austria is 
already on the defensive, and the ascendancy of the Slav element 
is more and more felt in the pohtical and intellectual life of the 
Empire. The Slav has taken the offensive all along the line, 
and the Germans have lost many important positions in the 
civil and financial administration and in the courts. Bohemia 
is the center of the Slavic movement. In Prague, the capital of 
Bohemia, the new Czech university is a dangerous rival to the old 
German university, the renowned Carolina, founded in 1348 by 
the Emperor Charles of Luxemburg. This Czech university has 
become the focus of Slav science, literature, and thought — and, un- 
fortunately, also of Pan-Slavic agitation, as hundreds of Servian 
and Croatian students have flocked to its gates to be imbued 
with the dreams of the future universal Slavic domination. 

In the midst of these contendmg racial forces, the mission of 
Austria has been, first, to introduce among the great Slavic popu- 
lations within her borders the ideals of Gemian culture and 
Gennan civilization. Her greatest achievements in this direction 



20 AUSTRIA HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

ha\c been attained in Bohemia. It is recognized by the SIa\ic 
world universally that the Slavic movement in Prague is the 
outcoTiie of German culture inculcated by Austria. It is one 
of the tragic circumstances of history that the German culture 
imparted to the Czechs is now operating in favor of the Pan- 
Slavic cause, intellectual and political. 

In the east, the mission of .Austria has been suggestively in- 
dicated by the flow of the Danube. Eastward and southward, 
•with the current of the mighty river, have Austrian cultural and 
industrial activities gone hand in hand. And one of the earliest 
stations of the commercial and moral expansion — the stations 
of Austria's Drang nach Oslcn — are Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

The destinies of Bosnia and Herzegovina came under the 
purview of Austria in 1876-77, when the revolutionary move- 
ment in the provinces, in conjunction with the Servian war 
against Turkey, was suppressed with unexampled severities by 
the Ottoman Government. At that time, the natural refuge for 
the stricken Christians of Bosnia-Herzegovina was Austria. Two 
hundred thousand of them were cast upon the resources of the 
authorities, and had to be taken care of. As there was no promise 
of an immediate amelioration of the stricken provinces, the ques- 
tion of the day at Vienna became the tinal solution of the problem 
of introducing order and personal security in the territory infested 
by brigands and terrorized l)y official severities, just across the 
Turkish border. 

The relation of Austria to Bosnia and Herzegovina duplicated 
in a marked degree that of the United States and Texas during 
the Texan uprising against Mexico, and the solution of the prob- 
lem in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as in that of Texas, 
appeared to be an Austrian occupation. This destiny of the 
di.stracted provinces was recognized by the Congress of Berlin, 
which adjusted the affairs of southeastern Europe after the 
defeat of Turkey by Russia in 1877. The Congress, after a thor- 
ough balancing of international interests and international jeal- 
ousies, handed over the two provinces to Austria for pacification 
and administration, and conceded to Au.stria the right to occupy 
the Sanjak of Novibazar, the narrow strip of territory which lay 
between Servia and Montenegro. This occupation was in the 
nature of a condominium v^ith Turkey. 

Installed in Bosnia-Herzegovina by the mandate of Europe, 
.\ustria entered upon its task of cleaning the Augean stable of 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 21 

Bosnian affairs with an energetic realization of the difficulties 
of its undertaking. The first obstacle that confronted the newly 
installed authorities was an uprising of the Begs, or Mohammedan 
nobility. Aroused by the land-owning Moslems, secretly insti- 
gated by the Sultan, they undertook to oppose by force of arms 
the peaceful entrance of Austria into its new functions. The 
outcome of the contumacy of the Begs was a six months' war, 
which ended in the suppression of the Moslem resistance and the 
restoration of internal peace. Next, Austria undertook the task 
of clearing out the brigands who infested the country' and made 
travel and commerce practically impossible. 

Side by side with measures for the pacification of the provinces 
and the restoration of internal order, the new Austrian adminis- 
tration accomplished wonders in the construction of a system 
of roads, the first that Bosnia and Herzegovina had Lad since 
the Ottoman conquest. 

The land question in the newly occupied provinces was ex- 
tremely delicate. When Austria marched into Bosnia she found 
there a survival of the feudal ages in the distribution of the land. 
The entire area of the provinces, with rare exceptions, was owned 
by the Begs, and the tenants, who cultivated them for the scant 
reward of one-half the produce, were in a condition of peonage. 
Two alternative solutions of the question presented themselves. 
One was the forcible expropriation of the lands of the nobles, and 
the other was the gradual distribution of the holdings through 
a period of years. 

It is one of the foremost grievances of the Ser\'ian agitators 
on the Austrian border provinces that the administration of the 
dual Monarchy did not at once proceed with the seizure of the 
land and its distribution among the peasantry by arbitrary 
means, a method employed by the Servians after the fall of the 
Ottoman Power in Ser\aa. Such, however, was not the Austrian 
method of dealing with the rights ot property, and it had been 
understood by the signatories to the Treaty of Berlin that no 
agrarian revolutionary measures would be undertaken by Austria. 

Baron Kallay, the first Austrian civil administrator of Bosnia- 
Herzegovina, however, adopted the much more equitable and on 
the whole far more successful plan of encouraging thrift among 
the peasants, and at the same time enabling them to achieve 
independence by their gradual acquisition of the lands they cul- 
tivated. Tliis conservative reorganization of the agrarian system 



22 AUSTRIA ITUXGARV AND THE WAR 

of the country was accomj)lished through the aid of the Lai 
Bank of Bosnia, an institution of private finance under the rig 
supervision of the Government. Baron Kallay's project, whii 
produced highly satisfactory results, was carried on by his su 
cessors, Burian and Bilinski. 

The educational problem of the provinces was no less diffici 
than that presented by the distribution of the land. Whi 
Austria entered Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1878, she found no schoc 
there, with the exception of a few mosque classes and madrasa 
for the chanting of Arabic prayers and verses from Al Kora 
Far from attempting to make German the language of the peop! 
or even the language of the more highly educated among thei 
the Austrian authorities at once undertook the establishment 
native schools, in which the instruction should be carried on 
Serb or in Croatian, the fonner written in the Cyrillic or Bi 
garian alphabet, and the latter in Latin characters. Not on 
was no attempt made to introduce German schools, but i. 
Government declined to permit the expenditure of public mom 
for instruction in any language except the two named idioms 
the Slavic language. 

This liberal policy stands out in sharp contrast to the d 
structive activities of the Servians in the newly occuj)ied Mac 
donian lands, where they have closed all the Bulgarian schoc 
amid circumstances of severity, to which some reference is ma( 
in the Report of the Carnegie Commission. Certainly there 
nothing in the estabhshment of Serb schools by Austria in Bosn 
and Herzegovina to justify the contention of the Servians th 
Austria is seeking to cnish out Serb nationality under the ru 
of the double eagle. 

Nevertheless, the Servian propaganda in Bosnia and Herz 
govina, following closelj' the Servian propaganda in its fir 
stage in Macedonia, was conducted along cultural lines, qui 
regardless of the palpable fact that the people of Servia ther 
selves stood in need of all the cultural efforts of which the 
Government and their financial resources were capable. Tl: 
fact is easily demonstrable when it is remembered that in i9( 
the Slavs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after thirty years of An 
trian administration, stood educationally higher than any of tl 
independent Sla\'ic nations of the Balkan Peninsula. Despi 
the manifestly hostile purposes of the so-called cultural Servi: 
propaganda in the border provinces, the Austrian authoriti 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 23 

took no measures to oppose it until it had entered the phase 
of bomb-throwing, in which the Servians had become adepts in 
the course of their abortive struggle for the conversion of Mace- 
donia to Serbism. And that fmal and intolerable phase of the 
Serb nationalist propaganda was close at hand. The crisis began 
in 1909, when the Austrian Government declared the annexation 
of Bosm'a and Herzegovina. 

This annexation was based upon three essential considerations, 
each one of wliich would have been considered sufficient in itself 
by any nation. The first of these considerations was the mandate 
of Europe; the second was the right of conquest, established at 
the begimiing of the occupation by the suppression of the armed 
resistance of the recalcitrant Begs; the third was the expenditure 
of about $250,000,000 by the dual Monarchy for the construction 
of railroads and other means of communication, public works of 
various sorts, and education and local improvements; and the 
fourth was the duty of continuing a regime which had brought 
peace and prosperity to the country itself. All the signatories 
to the Treaty of Berhn readily acquiesced in the accomplished 
fact as a logical outcome of actual events. 

Servia, however, conceived that it had been robbed by the 
act of the Austrian Government, and the press of that country 
launched a campaign of bitter and indecent vilification against 
the dual Monarchy. The contention of the Serbs that they 
were entitled to the annexed provinces was based upon two con- 
siderations, both equally absurd. The first was that Bosnia 
and Herzegovina had been a part of the great Servian Empire 
under Stefan Dushan about five hundred years ago. This 
argionent may best be compared with a Mexican claim to Texas 
because that State had fonnerly been a part of Mexico. And 
the Servian pretension to Bosnia-Herzegovina is very much 
weaker than the hypothetical Mexican claim to possession of 
Texas, because the inclusion of the contested provinces in the 
gigantic Empire of Dushan (The Strangler), which was only one- 
tenth as large as the State of Texas, lasted, as did the Empire, 
only about twent}' years. 

The second basis of the Servian claim to Bosnia-Herzegovina 
is the allegation that the provinces are inhabited by people of 
Serb race, of Servian language and of Serb faith. Not one of 
these contentions even approaches the facts. Out of the prov- 
inces' total population, which does not quite amount to two 



24 AUSTRIA HUXC.ARV AXD 'mi', WAR 

millions, Soo.ooo only are, at the vcryutmosl, Orthodox Serbs. 
The remainder are Roman Catholic Croatians, whose written lan- 
guage the Orthodox Serb cannot even read unless he has a 
knowledge of the Latin characters, or Mohammedans, who 
heartily detest the Ser\ians and profoundly despise them. 

The frothing protests which the Servian jjress continued to 
make against the annexation, it was realized clearly at Vienna, 
were instigated partly from St. Peter.sburg, where the states- 
men saw, or pretended to see, a fresh sign of Austrian encroach- 
ment upon the Southern Slavs, those dear Southern Slavs 
whose destinies htixc been for centuries the pawns on the chess- 
board of Russian diplomacy. But the Russian statesmen did 
not observe, or, obscrA-ing, did not care to admit, that Austria, 
while annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina, had definitely aban- 
doned her alleged road to Salonika by the withdrawal of her 
troops from the Sanjak of Novibazar, which was the key to the 
military situation in any advance farther south and east. A 
glance at the map will convince even the most hostile critic of 
Austrian policy in the Balkans that the abandonment of Novi- 
bazar by Austria is incomjiatible with any su.spicion of an Aus- 
trian design of territorial expansion in the direction of Salonika 
or of Constantinople. 

Thus events wore on toward the culminating tragedy of 
Sarajevo. In 1913, the Serbs had attained a wild dream through 
the annexation of a large part of Bulgarian Macedonia bj- the 
defeat of Bulgaria in the second Balkan War. The Serv'ian cam- 
paign in Bosnia-Herzegovina, following out its previous meta- 
morphosis in the Macedonian agitation that preceded the alliance 
with Bulgaria for the first Balkan War, emerged from the "cul- 
tural" stage and entered the bomb-throwing phase. The assas- 
sination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his consort at 
Sarajevo by a j-oung Serb patriot last summer startled the world 
and compelled Austria to energetic action in order to check a 
political and racial movement which had degenerated into a 
conspiracy to commit murder. 

The tremendous events wliich have cast the world in gloom 
since July 23d are the outcome of Servia's resistance to Austria's 
demand for a cessation of tliis orgy of violence. The Servians 
have opposed Austria's civilizing mission with unpardonable 
\'enom, and Aiistria has not flinched before the task of under- 
taking to crush that ojiposition. 



WHY AUSTRIA-HUNGARY IS AT WAR 
WITH RUSSIA 

By DR. CONSTANTIN THEODOR DUMBA 
Ambassador to the U. S. of America 

[From The Norlh Amaicaii Review oi Septcmher. igi^] 

The war between Austria-Hungar>' and Russia may well he 
said to be the outcome of conflicting civilizations and conflicting 
aims. The controversy between the dual Monarch}' and the 
Servian Kingdom is only an incident in the greater struggle 
between German civilization, as represented by Austria-Hungarj-, 
and Russian aspirations on the southern frontier of the dual 
Monarchy. To a proper understanding of the conflicting trend 
of these two forces — Austria-Hungary and Russia — a reahzation 
of the respective interests of the two Powers in the Near East 
is essential. 

Our interest in the Near East is economic, and not at all 
nationalistic. Russia's interest is solely sentimental or nation- 
alistic. The Monarchy was the dominant trade factor in the 
Balkan States. Russia has no trade worth mentioning, either 
in Servia or in any other Balkan State. The Gagarin line of 
steamers on the Danube, wliich Russia maintained at great cost, 
carried hardly any freight to Belgrade, except supplies for the 
Russian minister in the Servian capital. Austria-Hungary sent 
merchants and commercial travelers into the Balkan States. 
Russia, on the other hand, sent priests, consuls, agitators, and 
apostles of the Slaxic idea. 

The natural expansion of the German Empire of Austria 
toward the Near East began after the permanent expulsion of 
the Turkish hordes by the victories of Prince Eugene of Savoy. 
Parallel with the Austrian expansion southeastward went the 
Russian advance toward the Black Sea. In an effort to avert 
a clash in this parallel but gradually concentering expansion, 
Emperor Joseph and Empress Catharine met late in the eight- 
eenth century — 1787 — in the Crimea, and reached an agree- 
ment for the dismemberment of Turkey. Under this project of 
monarchs, the western part of the Ottoman Empire, including 
Bosnia-Herzegovina, now the bone of contention between the 
Monarchy on the one hand and Russia and Servia on the other. 



26 AUSTRIA HUXGARV AND THE WAR 

was apportioned to Austria. To Russia's share were allotted the 
regions now known as Rumania and Bulgaria. It was at this 
period that the Russian dream of the possession of Constantinople, 
first broached in the form of a mythical will of Peter the Great, 
began to assume reality as a governing principle of Russian policy 
in southeastern Europe. 

Decisions of the Congress of Berlin 

In the nineteenth century, Metternich, in vain, tried his con- 
servative policy for the maintenance of the territorial integrity 
of Turkey. The Monarchy's championship of Turkey as a per- 
manent territorial and political entity in Europe failed because 
of Russia's persistent aggressions. At the Congress of Berlin, in 
1878, which adjusted the boundaries of the Balkan Peninsula 
after the Russo-Turkish War, Count Andrassy abandoned this 
policy of Prince Metternich. Under the treaty negotiated in 
Berlin, the independence of the kingdoms of Servia and Rumania 
was recognized and the tributary principality of Bulgaria was 
created. In these arrangements the principle of nationality was 
the predominant consideration. Count Andrassy 's chief interest 
in the proceedings of the Congress on behalf of Austria-Hungary 
was commercial, as Russia's was sentimental or nationalistic. 

Andrassy sought to secure an outlet for our industrial 
products. This attitude was in accord with Austria's previous 
deahngs with Balkan peoples. He first concluded a commercial 
treaty with Rumania before it was an independent kingdom. 
Accordingly, one of the clauses which were incorporated into the 
Treaty of Berlin at Austria's behest placed Servia under the 
obligation to reach a commercial understanding with the dual 
Monarchy. But even tliis obligation Servia carried out only 
under great pressure from Vienna. 

Another outcome of the Congress of Berlin — and a fateful 
one, as now appears — was the mandate of the Powers for the 
occupation of the provinces of Bosnia-HerzegoAina by Austria- 
Hungary for purposes of pacification and administration. 

The relations between the Monarchy and Ser\-ia in the first 
years of the new order of things were satisfactory and hannonious. 
Hand in hand with the economic dependence of Sersia upon 
Austria-Hungary as the main and almost exclusive outlet for 
Servian commerce, went a political intimacy between King 
Milan's administration and the Government at Vienna. But 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 27 

against tliis friendly relation the Radical Russophile party carried 
on an energetic campaign. This campaign was supported at 
much cost by Russia, which conferred scholarships upon hundreds 
of Servian students in Russian universities, and educated many 
Servian ofEcers in Russian military colleges. In addition to 
these cultural efforts of the Russian Government, the so-called 
Slavic Benevolent Society in Moscow and St. Petersburg always 
stood ready with ample funds to give material support to all 
poor Serbs who should show a desire to avail themselves of the 
educational facilities of the Russian Empire. Such were the mild 
beginnings of the Russian propaganda in Servia, which was 
destined to lead to a tragic climax in Sarajevo a few years later. 

Russia and Servia 

After the assassination of King Alexander, son of King Milan, 
and Queen Draga in June, 1903, the Russophile Radical party, 
imder Nikola Pasitch, the present premier, came into complete 
and almost undisputed control in Belgrade. Under King Peter, 
the successor of King Alexander, the Russian minister at Bel- 
grade assumed the role of a sort of viceroy. Russian dominance 
over Servian affairs was especially conspicuous under the late 
Baron Hartwig, who was at the head of the Russian legation in 
the Servian capital during the two Balkan wars and until his 
death a few weeks ago. 

Under the influences set at work by Russia, the attitude of 
Servia toward Austria-Hungary underwent a complete reversal. 
As Austro-Hungarian minister to Servia in the last part of the 
reign of King Alexander, I often discussed with the King or his 
ministers the destiny of Servia. 

They all seemed to take it for granted that the door to the 
west had been closed to the Servian nation by the Austro- 
Hungarian occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and only the door 
to the south — in Macedonia — was open. Ser-via had given up 
the dream of a Servian expansion at the expense of the Monarchy, 
and was considering conquests to the south, in Old Servia. 
Accordingly, the activities of the nationalistic societies under the 
department of propaganda at the Servian Foreign Ofi&ce were 
cultural. They took the form of the establishment of schools 
and churches in Macedonia for the spread of the national ideal, 
very often at the expense of the Bulgarians. This purely edu- 
cational campaign lasted until the sudden end of the reign of 



28 AUSTRIA -HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

Alexander. Under Kins Peter began the propaganda of action 
which was destined to luive a tragic counterpart in the assassina- 
tion of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his consort in 
Sarajevo. 

Bands of raiders, or comitadjis, were organized, armed witli 
bombs and rifies, and sent into the debatable territory of Mace- 
donia to convince Bulgarians and other nationalities that they 
were really good Serbs. These methods, until the annexation 
of Bosnia and Herzegovina was announced by Austria in 1908, 
were applied only to Macedonia. After that event, the activities 
of the propaganda under the inspiration of Russia were trans- 
ferred to Austrian and Hungarian territory'. 

Russia's Interests 

The active interest of Russia in the newly annexed lands 
came in the wake of two rebuffs for Russian arms and Russian 
diplomacy. During Russia's struggle with Japan, the Monarchy 
had maintained the friendliest relations with Russia, in the hope 
tliat the colossus of the North would succeed in retaining its 
outlet in the Far East. With the triumph of Japan in Manchuria, 
Russia swung back to a keen revival of interest in the affairs of 
the Near East. But the second disappointment — this time a 
failure for Russian diplomacy — was to come. 

It is the custom to speak of the annexation of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina as having been carried out by Austria to the accom- 
paniment of profound secrecy. Such is not the case. 

The Monarchy, before the formal act, had exchanged several 
friendly notes on the subject with Russia. It is not generally 
known that Russia had even given her conditional approval of 
the plan of annexation in advance of its execution. At a con- 
ference in the Castle of Buchlau, in ^Moravia, in the autumn of 
1908, Baron von Aehrenthal, the Austro-Himgarian Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, had obtained the consent of Iswolski, his Rus- 
sian colleague, to the prospective step. In return for Russia's 
friendly attitude in the matter, von Aehrenthal pledged to the 
Russian Foreign Minister Austria-Hungar^-'s consent to the open- 
ing of the Straits of Corustantinople to the Russian fleets. 

When Iswolski, on continuing his trip, presented this plan 
to the British Foreign OlEce, he was quickly convinced that the 
agreed-upon quid pro quo was impracticable. Then began the 
opposition of Russia to the annexation by Austria- Hungarv' of 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 29 

the country wluch had been rescued from anarchy and placed 

upon the road to progress by Austrian arms and statesmanship, 

and in which Austria-Hungary had expended vast sums for 

essential improvements. This opposition was voiced by the 

Russian press in a series of violent utterances and by Servia in 

a campaign of incendiary and indecent attack upon the dual 

Monarchy. Servia's defiant attitude lasted from October, 1908, 

until the following March. Austria-Hungary was then compelled 

to proceed at great cost to a partial mobilization as a defensive 

measure. 

Annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 

In point of fact, the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina was 
neither a stealthy nor an unforeseen event. On the eve of the 
opening of the Russo-Turkish War, Austria, Uke England, had 
set down conditions for its neutrahty in the coming conflict. The 
Monarchy, among other considerations, stipulated the acquisition 
of control in Bosnia, and Great Britain for the inviolability of the 
Straits of Constantinople. Both these conditions Russia sought 
to evade after the defeat of Turkey. England enforced the per- 
fonnance of Russia's promises by the dramatic appearance of 
its fleet m Besika Bay; the Monarchy obtained the performance 
of Russia's part of the bargain with the dual Monarchy at the 
hands of the Congress of Berhn. 

Despite the double assent which Russia had given to our con- 
trol in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia picked out the Bosnian issue 
as the key-note of a wide appeal to all Slavic nations as an ex- 
ample of the "Austrian peril." Russia is extremely reactionary 
in its domestic policies and extremely revolutionary in its foreign 
policies. The character of the Russian agitation carried on in 
the Austrian Slaiac provinces may well be designated as revolu- 
tionary. The courts in Hungary only recently finished considera- 
tion of a characteristic method of Russian propaganda on Hun- 
garian territory. Several Ruthenians, whom the Russians call 
Malorussi — "Little Russians" — were convicted of high treason 
under the cover of religion. The chief witness for the defense 
was the Pan-Slavist leader Bobrinski, a member of the Russian 
Duma, who had con:e from Russia to appear before the court 
under a pledge of immunity. It was shown in the course of the 
testimony that a swarm of Bobrinski's paid agents had agitated 
among the Austrian and Hungarian Ruthenians, ostensibly in an 
effort to detach them from the United Orthodox to the Russian 



30 AUSTRIA-HUNGAR\- AND '] UK WAR 

Orthodox Church, but actually in an attempt to develop anti- 
Austrian sentiment among these "lost children " of Russia. Bob- 
rinski's guilt of the charge of plotting against the peace of a 
friendly State was proved with suOicient conclusiveness, but it 
was impossible to convict him because of the promise of im- 
munity under which he had consented to appear on Hungarian 

soil. 

Threatening Bulgaria 

The trial and the disclosures which it brought about created 
a profound feeling of resentment throughout Austria and Hun- 
gary. The Hungarian Government had caught Bobrinski — and 
behind Bobrinski something that loomed like a menacing cloud 
up in the North . 

Any approach to the hard methods of Kaulbars would not 
be endured with patience by any great Power. Kaulbars, with 
his Russian diplomatic entourage, terrorized Bulgaria during the 
period of uncertainty that followed the abduction, on the (;th 
of August, 1886 (old calendar), of Prince Alexander, by Russian 
agents, from his bed in the palace. With Alexander out of the 
way, Kaulbars, assuming the powers of a viceroy under suspended 
constitutional guarantees, attempted to browbeat and intimidate 
the Bulgarian regency, and actually made a deliberate and sys- 
tematic attempt to promote a revolution against the Govern- 
ment, by informing the people, in fiery proclamation and by a 
series of speeches throughout the country, that the Government 
had incurred the displeasure of the Czar, and that, therefore, 
Bulgaria would suffer untold evils unless it ciuickly compelled 
its rulers to obey the mandate of Alexander HI. 

The extraordinary methods of Kaulbars and his masters at 
St. Petersburg produced such a strong wave of indignation in 
Vienna that the Monarchy at that early stage was brought to the 
brink of war against Russia in defense of the independence of 
Bulgaria. 

The strings that led from Prague, the capital of Bohemia, to 
St. Petersburg and Moscow, the center of the Pan-Slavistic 
movement, were estimated as ominous and significant sjinptoms. 
The frequent pilgrimages of prominent Slavic leaders- like 
Kramar and Klofac, the Czechs, to St. Petersburg or Belgrade, 
and the numerous Sokol congresses and conferences, within and 
outside of the limits of the Monarchy, were outward signs of the 
intense character of a detennined and dangerous agitation. 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 31 

The Government of the dual IMonarch)- has been taught b_\- 
experience that the Servian Kingdom is the torpedo wliich Russia 
has launclred at the body of the Monarchy. That is why the 
Austro-Hungarian Government, in its deahngs with Servia after 
the crime of Sarajevo, found no alternative to insistent and un- 
compromising action. Any quil^bUng, any half-measures in re- 
pressing such intolerable activities as have characterized the 
Russo-Servian propaganda on Austrian territory, would have 
perpetuated the peril and made the situation worse than it was. 
It would have been tantamount to abdication by the Monarchy 
of its sovereignty on its own soil. And such an abdication we 
are not yet prepared to make. It must vindicate its sovereignty 
and insure order within its boundaries, even at the risk of in- 
curring the accusation of undue aggressiveness from those who 
do not realize that the patience of the dual Monarchy has been 
long and its desire for peace constant. 



THE MEANING OF RUSSIAN PAN-SLAVISM 

By ALEXANDER VON NUBER 
Austro-Hungarian Consul-General 

Russian Pan-Slavism is a revolutionary force. It first under- 
mined Turkish rule in the Balkan Peninsula and then it turned 
its activities toward fomenting disaffection among the Austrian 
Slavs. The racial and religious kinship of Russia with the Sla\-s 
in Austria makes this agitation a menace to peace and order in 
the dual Monarchy. 

The advanced posts of the Pan-Slavist movement in the 
Balkans are Servia and Montenegro. The relations between 
Russia and Montenegro are particularly close. Two daughters 
of the King of Montenegro are married to Russian grand dukes, 
one of them being Nikolai Nikolaievitch, the present commander- 
in-chief of the Russian armies and head of the war party in 
St. Petersburg. 

The annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, although it was ex- 
pected by everybody, aroused the Servian national passions to 
a frantic pitch. The Servian press indulged in \'enomous attacks 
upon the Hapsburg Monarchy. The whole attitude of the 
Servian nation was insolently provocative to the peace of Austria. 



32 AUSTRLVHUNGARY AND THE WAR 

Sir Edward Grey Quoted 

The aggressiveness of Servaa toward her neighbors was con- 
demned, shortly before the outbreak of the present crisis, by 
Sir Edward Grey, who said in a conversation with a foreign 
statesman: 

"Servia is a perpetual danger to European peace; its ground- 
less aspirations continually threaten the tranquillity of the world. 
'J'he present dynasty must have external success to remain in 
power." 

On the e\e of the crisis the British ambassador in Vienna, 
Sir iVI. de Bunsen, observed to the editor of the Freie Pressc 
"that the entire Enghsh nation condemns the crime of Sarajevo. 
No single Englishman has any sympathy left for Servia. We 
are thoroughly weary of being thrown into disfjuietude b}" this 
Httle country, and there is no Englishman who does not wish 
heartily that Servia receive a rough, sound lesson." 

The Demands of Austria-Hungary 

The Government of Emperor Francis Joseph followed this 
ad\4ce and demanded from Ser\-ia a discontinuance of her in- 
trigues and her violent attacks upon the integrity of the dual 
^Monarchy. It asked for tlie co-operation of the Austrian and 
Ser\nan police with a view to the detection and punishment of 
the moral authors of the dastardly crime of Sarajevo; but it 
never made an attempt to establish Austrian control over Servian 
law courts, as has been represented by the Ser\ian press and 
reiterated by the .'\nglo- French chorus. 

It is equally untrue that the Servian Government accepted 
almost all the conditions of the Austrian ultimatum. A mislead- 
ing presentation of the case was given out b}- Premier Pashitch 
to the whole world, and was published in good faith b>' the 
American press. Ser\-ia"s acceptance of almost every point was 
conditional and amounted to a veiled refusal. Nothing was left 
to the dual Monarchy but to declare war upon Servia, who, 
under the influence of regicidal otlicers, had resorted to assassina- 
tion as a pohtical method. 'J'liis drastic step Austria undertook, 
in spite of the danger that was looming up in the North. 

The Championship of Russia 

Indeed, Russia, which had quietly looked on in 1913 when 
Bulgaria, another Slavic nation, was being attacked simul- 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 7,0 

taneoiisly by four countrit'S, at oiicc announced her championship 
of Ser\'ia, the deadly foe of the dual Monarchy, on the ground 
that the Czar could not look on with indifference while a Slavic 
nation was being menaced, as it was explained in St. Petersburg. 
Czar Nicholas had ordered the mobilization while negotiations 
were going on in St. Petersburg. In spite of Austria's promise to 
Russia to respect the territorial integrity of Ser\-ia — a fact ad- 
mitted in the House of Commons by Sir Edward Grey — Emperor 
Nicholas forced the conflict upon Kaiser Wilhelm by refusing to 
stop the mobilization on the German frontier. 

The Franco-Russian alliance automatically brought France 
into the held. One of the greatest tragedies in history was 
enacted when the French nation, governed by a half- socialistic 
and half-radical cabinet, profoundly pacific in its tendencies, 
found itself involved in a conflict which originated in the out- 
rageous conspiracy of Belgrade. The inabUity of Frenclmien to 
reconcile themselves to the loss of Alsace, a Gennan province 
snatched from Germany in a time of complete peace by Louis 
XIV., made tliem subservient to the vast ambitious schemes of 
the northern semi-Asiatic Empire. 

Action of British Cabinet 

Unlike France, Great Britain had no treaty engagement to 
assist Russia in the war now raging in Europe; but the fact that 
the military and naval authorities of Great Britam and France 
had come to an agreement on the distribution of their respective 
fleets in the event of a conflict left no choice to the Cabinet of 
St. James but to side with France. Sir Edward Grey declared 
in the most solemn manner in the House of Commons that 
Parliament was free to determine Great Britain's course. Then, 
almost in the same breath, he asked the question: "Are we not 
in honor bound to defend the French coasts of the North Sea 
against an attack by the German fleet, ha\ing advised the French 
Government to send all its battleships to the Mediterranean?" 
Did not Sir Edward, by putting this question, involuntarily ad- 
mit that Great Britain was no longer free, and that the military 
and naval arrangements made had prejudiced the political 
future? 

Germany was compelled by strategic necessity to advance 
reluctantly through Belgian territory. But she offered a solemn 
pledge to respect the integrity of Belgium and to compensate 



34 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

the Kingdom for all damages. The violation of Belgium's neu- 
trality gave Great Britain a convenient and highly moral pretext 
to declare herself against Germany. No doubt the Liberal British 
Government, and, above all, its Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 
had done their best to maintain peace, and were loath to enter 
into the world's greatest conflict. 

A Dangerous Trade Rival 

On the other hand, the opportunity' to deal a deadly blow 
at the dangerous trade rival whose gigantic strides toward the 
commercial concjucst of the world menaced British suj)remacy 
was too tempting. At the same time hopes were entertained in 
London that it would be possible to destroy the powerful German 
fleet which seemed a menace to the security of even the British 
Isles. These were the real motives that impelled Great Britain 
to join Russia and France. 

The fear of Germany's commercial expansion was so great 
that Britain had drawn close to her traditional enemy in Asia, 
and even had meekly tolerated Russia's encroachments upon 
Persia. The pretext, given by Sir Edward Grey, of Great 
Britain's sacred obligation to protect the menaced neutrality of 
Belgium, led to a sad result. Little Belgium believed that she 
could rely upon the active protection of France and England. 
In reality, she was used as a shield behind which the Allies 
achieved the occupation of their strategical lines. Belgium was 
sacrificed without compunction, and then comforted with high- 
sounding phrases of admiration for her heroism. 

The Policy of Russia 

All these tragic events came in the wake of Russia's schemes 
of Pan-Slavic expansion. Russia's polic\' to incite disaffection 
among all Slavs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and her use 
of Servia and Montenegro as advanced posts against the position 
of Austria-Hungary in Bosnia and Herzegovina were bound to 
bring about the clash with the dual Monarchy. 

Germany's aim is to preserve the integrity of Asiatic Turkey, 
to build railroads ui that region, and to colonize reclaimed lands. 
Russia, on the other hand, is bent upon the opening of the 
Straits of Constantinople and the breaking up of Asiatic Turkey, 
which she menaces more and more from her new j)oint of strategy 
in northern "Persia, now fallen entirely under Russian control. 
This clash of interests caused a prominent Russian historian to 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 35 

state, "The way to Constantinople lies through Berlin as well 
as through Vienna." 

Russia's Increasing Armaments 

Russia's schemes of expansion were backed by ever-increasing 
armaments, which lately were pushed with such vigor and at 
such appalling expense that a crisis began to seem imminent. 
The expenditure of French billions had enabled Russia to under- 
take this aggressive militarist policy. 

When, on the other hand, France returned to the three-year 
term of service in order to establish a peace strength of more than 
800,000 men at a time when Germany, with a population of 
over 67,000,000, and exposed on two fronts, did not muster a 
stronger peace establishment, it became clear to most German 
minds that the long-dreaded conflict was drawing near. Hemmed 
between the aggressive Russian Empire and the vengeful French 
Republic, Germany had no choice but to hit hard and to do it 
first, hoping by its superior rapidity of mobilization to crush 
the western foe before the Russian legions, held back in the 
south by Austria-Hungary, could swamp Eastern Germany. 

Although Kaiser Wilhelm found himself compelled to declare 
war, he acted on the defensive. The real aggressor was Russia. 



THE MENACE OF THE GREAT BEAR 

Russia and the Ruthenians — A Phase of Pan-Slavism 

By A RUTHENIAN 

It is safe to assume that most of our readers are unaware that 
the Ruthenians, or Small-Russians as the Russians christened 
them, or Ukrainians as they style themselves, are a people 
numbering thirty-live millions. The western world hardh' sus- 
pected the existence of this nation, which ranks second among 
the Slav; the Ruthenians have lately been moved to a more 
prominent place in European politics, their future destiny being 
one of the main causes of the present war. 

Of the thirty-five millions of Ruthenians, more properly called 
Ukrainians, about four millions live in Eastern Galicia and half 
a million in Upper Hungary, whereas more than thirty millions 
are at home in Southern Russia, in the fertile plains stretching 
from both banks of the Dnieper to the Don and the Black Sea. 



36 AUSTRIA HUXCJARY AND THE WAR 

As far back as the tenth century Ukraina was a mighty country, 
and its capital, Kiev, then was the largest, wealthiest, and the 
most advanced city in Eastern Europe. In those days, Western 
Europe fully realized the Ukrainian rulers' power, foreijrn rulers 
sought their friendship, Prince Volod}TnirMonomach was married 
to Gytha, the daughter of Harold, the Saxon King of England, 
and his daughter, Anne, became Queen of Erance. After the 
destruction of their flourishing country by the invading Tartars, 
the Ukrainians came under Lithuanian, then Polish, and finally 
Russian domination. 

Russia was quick to realize that, were the national civilization 
of such a large j)()i)ulalion occupying the most fertile parts of 
the Empire allowed to subsist, this would ever be a source of 
danger for herself. It was, therefore, decided to denationalize 
the Ukrainians, and drastic, unscrupulous were the methods 
applied to this end. The very existence of the nation was denied, 
its language was summarily decreed to be the "small Russian 
dialect" and was prohibited in schools and official life. Not 
content with this, oflicial Russia prohibited the printing of 
Ukrainian texts, even of prayer-books. 

The total su])pression of national existence, which threatened 
the Ukrainians was happily averted when a fraction of them 
came under Austrian rule as a consequence of Poland's partition. 
With the constitutional freedom granted b}- Austria, the Ukrain- 
ians in that country were enabled to maintain and develop their 
national existence and culture. Ukrainian schools and colleges 
were founded, beside many national clubs or associations for 
upholding the people's economic and ideal interests. Ukrainian 
was officially recognized as the country's language, and acts were 
passed in the pro\incial diet and parliament safeguarding 
Ukrainian rights. The people were inaugurating a national 
"renaissance," their culture and literature were once more going 
ahead, the Austrian (jovemmcnt, well appreciating the situation, 
had agreed last year to the establisluncnt of an Ukrainian uni- 
versity in Lemberg. 

Ukrainian Unrest 

The national resurrection of the Ukrainians, though materially 
confined to Austria, had a moral effect far beyond the Russian 
borders. Comparing their lot with that of their happier fellow 
countrymen in Austria, the Ukrainians in Russia gave signs of 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 37 

unrest, and Russia had to realize that her yoke was unbearable 
to the people who looked to Galicia as to their "Piemonte." 

The Ukrainian aspirations were not passed unnoticed by the 
watcliful Russian oihcials, who quickly perceived that a new 
threat was arising to their Government's despotism; nationally 
enlightened Ukrainians would not wiUingly submit to Russian 
oppressive rule and would even attempt to free themselves. 

Official Russia then declared that the annexation of Galicia 
was the safest course to take in order to offset the threatening 
danger. When this would be achieved, the time-honored Russian 
"a la Cosaque" methods would nip in the bud the resurrecting 
Ukrainian culture. These official Russian views were dissemi- 
nated in periodicals and at pubhc meetings. As long as a powerful 
Austria stood in the way, such theories could be advanced in 
speech and print, but they could not be put into practice. Since 
annexation by \iolence was not possible, one had to resort to 
other means. 

The Ukrainian "renaissance" was declared by official Russia 
to be but a mahcious invention of the Austrian Government, 
nay, the very existence of Ukrainians in Gahcia was flatly denied, 
and the Ukrainians were described by St. Petersburg as Russians- , 
brothers who were subjected to utterly intolerable religious and 
national oppression! The St. Petersburg Government gave its 
financial support to the recently launched " Russian-Galician 
Society" and "Slav Benevolent Society," both inspired by 
Count Bobrinski with the sole object of promoting Russian 
pohtical agitation in Galicia. In this campaign, which started 
both on educational and religious lines, the chief Russian weapon 
was — the Rouble. 

At first, Galicia was actually flooded by Russian emissaries; 
these "agents provocateurs" were entrusted with the "dis- 
affection mission" of the poorer class of peasants who were to 
be promised a free hand in the partition of the dominial estates 
and the robbing of the Jews, once the Czar would have conquered 
the country. Numbers of these poor peasants' children were 
taken to Russia, there to be educated in convents to be fit 
agitators for the Rus.sian Orthodox Church (the Ukrainians in 
Galicia are members of the Roman Cathohc Church, though 
they have retained Greek rites); once their education completed, 
the "students" were sent back to Galicia with sufficient funds 
and with orders to agitate and also to act as military spies, as 



38 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

the prosecutions in Munkacs and Lemberg ha\x- amply 

disclosed. 

Undermining Austria in Galicia 

Free boarding schools for poor peasants' sons were founded 
with Russian funds, the educational work being carried on in 
accordance with Russian aims, (jalicia was flooded with Russian 
anti-Austrian Uterature, the prayer-books containing prayers for 
the Czar, and the Russian benefactors gave all these good 
things free, without wanting anything in return! Even certain 
English newspapers were influenced so far as to publish accounts 
of "the unparalleled oppression of the Russians in Galicia," the 
authors being Bobrinski and also J. W. Birkbeck, an Englishman 
acting as Russia's agent for England. Bobrinski did not shrink 
from going to Galicia and there to speak in terms which should, 
had the Austrian authorities concerned not been too lenient for 
peace' sake, have led him to detention for political crimes. 
Attempts were also made to persuade the Austrian Government, 
through diplomatic channels, that peace with Russia could be 
maintained only if the Russian agitation in Galicia were tolerated; 
at the very time St. Petersburg's bureaucrats declared Galicia 
would .soon be ripe for ])icking. 

Inasmuch as pu])lic opinion exists in Russia, it was carefully 
prepared and familiarized with the idea that war with Austria 
is unavoidable, and that Galicia must be annexed. This policy 
was succinctly expressed by Bobrinski's characteristic exclama- 
tion, "We shall not rest ere the Russian flag flies on the Car- 
pathians!" To bring war about, and at the same time to conceal 
her aggressive policy, Russia started the anti-Austrian campaign 
in Servia. The unsuspecting reader might fancy that Russia's 
attitude in backing Servia is the outcome of a sincere feeling of 
Slav sohdarity, but the initiated knew perfectly well that Russia 
could reach Lemberg best by way of Belgrade. 

Let us finally consider the Ukrainians' attitude when this war 
started. From the very first minute it was well dclined and 
unanimously supported, "We shall fight for freedom and Aus- 
tria." Immediately hostilities began, numerous Ukrainian vol- 
unteer companies took the field against Russia, their archbishop 
in Lemberg, Count Szeptycki, having devoted his entire fortune 
to tliis purpose. The archbishop has already been made prisoner 
and sent to Russia, where he will have to answer for his unswerv- 
ing patriotism. 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 39 

Count Szeptycki will be one of the many noble victims of a 
just cause; the Ukrainians will hold their memory in high esteem 
and honor. It is to be anticipated that the hopes of this enduring 
and cultured nation will be fulfilled at an early date. Western 
civilization would fare all the better by it. 



WE POLES IN AUSTRIA 

By EUGENE ROZWADOWSKI 

He who enters the wonderful edifice on the Franzensring in 
Vienna, the home of the Austrian Parliament, will find the 
statues of the greatest Austrian Parliamentarians in the mag- 
nificent pillared central hall. Altogether there are but a dozen 
marble busts there, among them four of Poles — Grocholski, 
Dunajewski, Jaworski, and, in the place of honor just at the 
right of the main entrance, the bust of Franz Smolka. 

The latter embodies in a measure the relation of the Poles 
to the Empire. Smolka, who as a revolutionist was sentenced 
to death in 1848 and owed his hfe to Imperial clemency, became 
later one of the creators of Austrian Parliamentarism, and, 
subsec[uently, for more than fifteen years, was President of the 
ParUament (Speaker). The development of the Polish people 
in Austria resembles Smolka's career. Still openly revolting in 
1848, they co-ordinated themselves ever since the beginning of 
constitutional hfe to the idea of the Austrian State and attained 
a leading role in Austrian state affairs by absolute loyalty to the 
Emperor and by a wise policy in Parliament. 

The Poles for Austria 

The principle of the Poles always to vote for the so-called 
state necessities, i.e., the budget and the Government's appro- 
priations for Anny and Navy, no matter whether the "Pole 
Club" of the Parliament agreed on other questions with the 
majority or the opposition, has always been considered the 
key-stone of their Parhamentary pohcy. Even though tliis atti- 
tude in Parliamentary disputes frequently takes a trump out of 
their hands, they invariably adhere to it, well recognizing the 
necessity of a strong Austria as the only and best warranty for 



40 AUSTRIA ni'XC.ARN' AND IFIK WAR 

the freedom and developiiu'iil of all Austrian peoples. In the 
old ParHanient (before the introduction of equal and universal 
suffrage in 1907), when the landed nobility were the leaders of 
the Pole Club, its attitude toward the Government was fre- 
quently characterized as being not onlj- in the interest of the 
Empire but also of the nobility itself which thereby secured — as 
Government party — the domination of Galicia. In view of this, 
there was a curious expectancy as to what the attitude of the 
Pole Club would be after the new Parliament was elected by 
universal and equal suffrage. By the new democratic franchise, 
the predominance and power of the nobility in the Pole Club 
were practically destroyed, and a majority of radical nationalist 
Pan-Poles was fomied. However, the policy toward the Govern- 
ment remained unchanged. The nationalist Poles forming the 
new Pole Club strictly adhered to the practice of their predeces- 
sors to strengthen the prestige of the Austrian Go\ernment within 
and without the Enipire. and invariabl\- supported each Cabinet 
whether they were in harmony with it or not. In the subsequent 
election the radical Pohsh peasant party was victorious, but 
even then the Parliamentary policy of the Poles remained the 
same as before. 

This serves to show the unwavering loyalty of all political 
and social parties of the Poles to the Government, and particu- 
larly to the reigning dynasty. In fact, in none of his domains 
is Emperor Franz Josef more popular than in Galicia. The 
Polish people always preserve for him a fcchng of gratitude in 
return for the granted national freedom wluch is ascribed to a 
great extent to his personal influence. 

As a matter of fact, the national development of the Poles 
in Austria is cjuite considerable. They enjoy a far-reaching au- 
tonomy, have national schools, including two universities, which 
are the Mecca of erudition for the whole nation, also for the 
Poles of Russia and Prussia, where there are no such national 
educational institutions. They have also an Academy of Science 
in Cracow, and their own Polish judicature and admmistration. 

For several years, Galicia's economic progress has been im- 
portant, though it naturally suffered when Russia caused the 
crises of 1908 and 1912. The formation and prosperity of 
economic unions (industrial, savings, agricultural, and consumers' 
associations) have developed to a remarkable degree, and in this 
respect Galicia outranks all other countries of the lunpire. 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 41 

80,000 Drilled Poles 

The Poles, witliin and without Austria, base the future of 
their nation upon the governing policy of the Hapsburg dynasty, 
and this confidence in the reigning House found an expression 
when ten years ago the Gahcian Diet unanimously resolved to 
offer to the Emperor the ancient royal palace in Cracow for his 
residence, voting several million kronen for this purpose. In 
accepting this gift of the Polish people, the Emperor stipulated 
that a portion of the palace be used as a Polish National Museum, 
which deeply impressed this temperamental people. 

It is truly impossible to imagine better relations between the 
people and their ruler than those existing between Emperor 
Franz Josef and the Poles, relations which were "never darkened 
by any cloud," as the Emperor remarked when he received a 
deputation in Jaslo on occasion of his visit to Galicia in 1902; 
he also added that the Poles should devote themselves more to 
the mihtary profession, as the Polish soldier and officer were 
the most secure support of the Empire. For several years, the 
Poles have actually shown a remarkable activity as regards 
various voluntary military organizations. There are not fewer 
than 80,000 members enrolled in same, who regularly take part 
in well-discipUned drill and rifle practice. Last year they even 
went through a period of manoeuvres near Lemberg in which 
about 8,000 men took part. 

When the war against Russia broke out, a great number of 
these voluntary companies equipped themselves under the com- 
mand of former active anny officers. By the Imperial decree 
of August I, they were incorporated in the "Landsturm" (Third 
Reserve), went to the front, and right at the begiruiing 
of hostilities annihilated a body of Cossacks near Tarnopol. 
They were first in entering Russia m Miechow, after dislodging 
a Russian detachment there. 

Owing to the lack of imbiased news from the Galician theatre 
of war, nothing definite has become known here as yet of these 
brave men; but the fact that Grand Duke Nicolay Nicolajewitch, 
with utter disregard of international law, has decreed that the 
Polish Rifles and "Sokol" organizations should not be made 
prisoners of war, but should be summarily shot, serves to show 
that their presence on the battlefield has made itself felt by the 
Russians. 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

Comprehensive Historical Sketch of the Intrigues 

of Russia and Her Allies Preceding 

the Great Conflict 

Address delivered by 

DR. FRITZ FISCHERAUER 

Vice-Consul of Austria-Hungary, November 4, IQ14, at the German Social- 
Scientific Club of New York 

A terrible and exceptionally sanguinary war devastates the 
Old World. Europe is not alone the arena of the mighty struggle, 
for Asiatic peoples have also been drawn into it by England, and 
have brought warfare according to their own fashion into sorely 
tried Europe bleeding from a thousand wounds, and are thus 
infinitely enhancing the atrocities of the war. It is no longer 
a secret to any one, and is not denied by careful observers, that 
Russia is guilty in the first place, if not exclusively, of the awful 
carnage, that the resjionsibility for the destruction of so many 
3oung Hves, the pride and hope of all nations, and for the devasta- 
tion of the nations' wealth accumulated after many years of 
hard labor, rests upon those Russian statesmen who, with a 
singular talent for intrigue, steeped since years in instigation 
and baiting, have caused the present wholesale slaughter in 
Europe. 

" This Is My War " 

One of them only recently, with head erect, proclaimed to 
the world, "Tliis is my war," and thus perhaps unwittingly 
refuted the attempt made at Petrograd to ascribe this greatest 
of all wars to the provocation of the two central European 
Powers. These Powers had nothing to gain by war; time was 
working for them. For Austria-Hungary gradually more and 
more responded to the national desires of her various races, thus 
removing the pretended cause of the Russian and Servian in- 
trigue carried on within the dual Monarchy. Had peace been 
maintained the indefatigable industry of Germany's manufac- 
turers and merchants could not have failed to secure her suprem- 
acy over her English competitors. 

The development of the German Na\^ would also have made 

42 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 43 

such progress that a conflict on the seas with the EngHsh foe 
would hardly have been contemplated without terror. 

However, as stated before, it was a Russian statesman who 
dispelled all doubt as to who brought about and desired this war, 
having proudly and with iimate presumption described the 
present European war as the result of his own doing. Tliis stales- 
man is ISWOLSKI. 

The history of his country in the last few years is most closely 
connected with his name, and this fact enhances the weight of the 
said declaration. It throws a bright light upon the situation, 
and will also serve as a welcome guide upon the perplexing paths 
of European politics, to those who live far from the Old World 
and who are therefore unable to follow Iswolski's activities in all 
their details. The fact that during his ministerial incumbency 
he did not exactly accjuit himself with glory, and, moreover, 
succumbed in liis diplomatic encounter with Count Aehrenthal 
during the crisis of the Bosnian annexation, surely does not 
affect the importance of Iswolski's rejoicings, uttered with so 
much emphasis over the result of his many years' efforts at last 
attained. Notwithstanding his not inconsiderable defeats of 
those days, the middle class, and even the very highest Russian 
circles always lent him a willing ear, and though he was later 
compelled to exchange his ministerial post for that of Russian 
Ambassador at Paris, this was not so much due to Ms diplomatic 
mistakes as the consequences of a delicate regard for a troubled 
purse. However, I should not like to dwell any longer upon this 
question and will Kmit myself to the statement that both Austria- 
Hungary and Germany will, thanks to his frankness, forever 
remember Iswolski, notwithstanding the evil experiences they 
had with him. For has he not practised with the simphcity of a 
child what the brains of the knowing would not accomplish in 
the Gennan White Book: "He has nailed down the fact beyond 
all doubt that the war was desired and provoked by Russia." 

The Royal Politician's Hand 

In order to be able to judge somewhat correctly the European 
situation, it is necessary to make some digression. One must 
hark back to the time when, upon the occasion of the crowning 
of King Edward VII. of England, the politics of the insular Empire 
were turned in a new direction. The royal politician considered 
it in the interest of his country, partly on personal and partly 



44 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

on sufficiently well-known political and economical jirounds, to 
modify the friendly attitude toward the Triple Alliance until 
then assumed by the English statesmen, and to more and more 
approach the Dual Entente. An understanding entered into 
with France was followed by one with Russia; a number of 
political interviews with the crowned Germanophobe increased in 
an uncomfortable manner; in the attempt to take Spain in the 
van of the Western Powers, Italy was ensnared and Austria- 
Hungarj' showered with tokens of love and friendship. Each 
year Edward appeared in the Imi)erial summer resort at Ischl 
in order there to assure the dean of European sovereigns in 
fervent words of his unfaltering friendship. 

The s\Tnpathies for the English were great in those days in 
the dual Monarchy, and the value of the political friendship 
with the United Kingdom was also highly appreciated in their 
leading circles. This friendship, of course, had its natural limita- 
tions, however. It was naturally never meant to serve as a 
springboard for the attempts to isolate Germany. Yet those at 
the helm of England's foreign policy regarded it in this sense. 
And when they learned that an understanding of Austria- 
Hungarj' with the insular Empire would naturally have to end 
where it would point against Germany, the fomierly so warm 
Enghsh sentiments for Vienna suddenly became cold. 

This was in the year of 1907. In the summer of this year. 
King Edward left the Imperial residence at Ischl, filled with 
anger. Soon we were made to feel London's disaffection in a 
remarkable manner. First in the joint intervention of the 
great Powers, then set afoot in Macedonia, in which England 
suddenly arraigned herself on the side of Russia and fully sup- 
ported the most extravagant claims of the Czar, which were 
wholly unacceptable to the Turks. 

The Sanjak Railway 

But the scorn of the English over the faith of Austria-Hungary 
to her ally broke out with almost elemental force, when in 
January, 1908, Count Aehrenthal obtained from the Turks the 
concession for the construction of the Sanjak railway. The 
attacks of the English press vied in their \'iolence and nideness 
with those of their Pan-Slav colleagues at Petrograd and Moscc^w, 
to say nothing of the French press, which, like French dij)lomacy, 
had for years been accustomed to obey blindly all orders coming 



AUSTRLX-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 45 

from St. Petersburg and to turn back at every sign of the Russian 
ally even as a subaltern. The war of the press waged for months. 
Austria-Hungary was to be intimidated and to yield to the dic- 
tates of the Russian poHcy, supported by England. The figures 
failed. Austria-Hungary was not mclined to admit that, by her 
said action, she had violated the understanding reached with 
Russia in 1903, wliich had, estabhshed the status quo in the 
Balkans. Tliis miderstanding was of a political nature, had 
nothing to do with economic questions, and could, of course, 
not obstruct either of the contracting parties in the protection 
of her economic interests in the Balkans. 

At that time already there was in the air sometliing of Russia's 
political efl'orts to exclude Austria-Hungar)' from the Balkans, 
and to make the Balkans appear as Russia's exclusive sphere of 
interest. The convention of Murz-Steg, — or rather the program 
there agreed upon between Austria-Hungary and Russia in 1903 
deaUng with the rcfonn of European Turkey — was only a tem- 
porary deviation from the direction of the Russian policy in- 
fluenced b}' Pan-Slav tendencies. The ultimate aim of those 
Pan-Slav tendencies was to make use of the peoples of the 
Balkans in favor of Russia's ambitions of expansion, and thus 
to create a battering-ram against a powerful Austria-Hungary, 
the greatest obstacle on Russia's path to Constantinople. This 
could most effectively be carried out by appealing to the Slav 
national feeling by promising a Slav unification, which would 
have led to a strong Slav coalition. Murz-Steg, therefore, con- 
stituted only a pause in the furtherance of Russian territorial 
lust; and was intended to cover the rear of the Czar's Empire dur- 
ing the impending settling of accounts with Japan, and to 
prevent surprises in the Balkans at a time when all its forces 
were engaged against the yellow race in the Far East. 

Iswolski's Treachery 

This aim was actually reached. Austria-Hungary, which has 
ever labored for the free development of the Balkan peoples, con- 
scientiously fulfilled the obligations assumed by her at Murz- 
Steg and proceeded in her correct attitude to such a degree that 
it was possible for Russia during her war with Japan to entirely 
denude her western frontier. It is certainly not Austria- 
Hungary's fault, if Russia, nevertheless, did not succeed in wm- 
ning glory for her arms in that war. The reasons, therefore, must 



46 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

be soLighl in condiUoiis which arc pretty generally known, and 
whose discussion would lead us far beyond the limitations of the 
subject at hand. Let us here, therefore, only assert that the 
Russian Foreign Minister Iswolski, after the Russian defeats in 
Manchuria, and the total annihilation of the Russian fleet off 
Tshushima, had secured peace with Japan for some time to come, 
grasped the first opportunity offered to declare the Murz-Steg 
understanding null and void. He thus freed himself of the fetters 
assumed only under the pressure of the Japanese danger, and 
obtained an absolutely free hand in the Balkans against Austria- 
Hungary. The occasion for this was the aforementioned Austrian 
concession obtained from Turkey for the construction of the 
Sanjak railway, which with hair-splitting arguments was de- 
clared a violation of the status quo. On this ground England and 
Russia subsequently indulged in revelries of "political decency," 
a virtue which, as well known, is monopolized by these 
countries. 

Having obtained a free hand, Iswolski thereby had ad- 
vanced a step nearer to his fervent aim of combating the dual 
Monarchy. His predecessor's policy of friendly rapprochement 
with Austria-Hungary was thrown to the winds, and Russia, now 
under the influence of this ominous man, proceeded upon the 
path which ultimately was bound to lead to the present horrible 
holocaust. The disastrous defeats in iVIanchuria, and the Rus- 
sian pride thereby wounded to the quick, incited the morbidly 
vainglorious minister to obtain in Europe the military laurels 
which had been denied the Czar's Empire in the Far Eas^ 

Going into Secret History 

Henceforth, Russia was no longer bound to observe any 
obligations whatever, with respect to Austria-Hungary, and 
could give free rein to her intense hatred. She did this in the 
fullest possible measure. Of course, not with the great success 
which the Russian Foreign Minister, so richly gifted with a 
limitless amount of imagination, had pictured to himself. For 
Austria-Hungary now, of course, also had a free hand in the 
Balkans, and did not fail to make good use of it. 

In October, 1908, the sovereignty of Emperor Francis Joseph 
was extended ox-er liosnia and Herzegovina. Prexious thereto, 
in the month of September, Count Aehrenthal had a conference 
with Iswolski at Castle Buchlau in Moravia. The latter was 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 47 

informed of the intended annexation of tlie two provinces and 
declared himself agreeable. As a compensation, he obtained the 
consent of Austria-Hungary to the opening of the Straits ol' 
Constantinople. 

Whether Iswolski intended from the very outset to break hi-^ 
word, or merely in his unique lust for successes wanted to bring 
back from his European tour to St. Petersburg the consent of the 
signatory Powers to the solution of the Dardanelles question in 
the Russian sense, and in doing so forgot his hatred against 
Austria-Hungary for a moment, is of no consecjuencc at this time. 
Anyway, the oft-mentioned gentleman journeyed from Buchlau 
to France. 

There he was not the object of a particularly hearty recej)- 
tion. He even had to suffer bitter censure. He was blamed for 
discussing questions of a general European character with a 
member of the Triple Alliance and making j^romises to him, 
without previous consultation with his French ally. Iswolski 
was perplexed to the extreme; he, however, was wholly non- 
plussed when on his arrival in London he there, too, was snubbed 
and given a strictly negative answer by the St. James Cabinet 
in the Straits question. 

England Declined — Iswolski Disappointed 

For the cancellation of the closing of the Straits, it was of 
course necessary to obtain the consent of all European signator\- 
Powers, and that of England was refused the proud Pan-Sla\' 
mmister. To aggravate matters, he had made far-reaching prom- 
ises to Austria-Hungary with respect to Bosnia and Herzego\ina 
in the anticipation of the early opening of the Dardanelles for 
Russian men-of-war! 

His rage knew no bounds. Meanwhile, October had come, 
and the annexation of Bosnia became an accomplished fact. 

Evil days were in store for poor Iswolski at St. Petersburg, 
whither he was now to return. After having left with the most 
promising expectations, he returned home a failure. He did 
not have the courage to stand by the fulfilment of his word, 
given at Buchlau, and it was much more in harmony with his 
natural inclinatit)n to turn with all the means at his disposal 
against the hated Austria-Hungary which stood in the wa}* of 
his Balkan plans. 

The awful baiting which was then set afoot b\' him against 



48 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND. THE \\ AR 

Austria-Hungary, with the indefatigable support of England, and, 
of course, also of France, is still remembered b}- all. The 
"sacredness of treaties" was proclaimed in all keys against 
Foreign Minister Aehrcnthal, and there was talk of the ravishing 
of Serxaan provinces, which had already in 1878, at the Congress 
at Berlin, been turned over to be administered by Austria for 
all time with the consent of the whole of Europe, and thus also 
of Russia and England. 

The easil\- aroused Servian passions were thus incited in an 
irresponsible way; their claim to the Servian provinces of Austria- 
Hungary were declared just in every respect, and their efforts 
toward realizing the same were promised full support by the 
l^ntcnte. The Serbs already saw themselves masters of the 
situation; their agitation assumed dangerous proportions, and 
their attitude toward the ^Monarchy became more and more 
provoking. 

In this aw^ul turbulence, and during this unexampled agita- 
tion, the block of the two European States stood firmly united 
hke a rock in the midst of surging w-aves. Avoiding all provoca- 
tion, the\- made it plain to their opponents that there could be 
no .discussion as to a retreat on their part. All attempts at 
intimidation failed. But, forsooth, the Servian brains wholly 
ceased to perform their functions. Relying with certainty upon 
Russian aid, the Serbs launched sucJi attacks against Austria- 
Hungar\' that the latter was compelled to decree mobilization. 
And then the Russian aid, which had been so fervently hoped 
for by Ser\-ia, and* actually promised by Russian diplomats, 
failed to materialize. \\'ith one of those theatrical tricks in the 
handling of which Iswolski is such a master, he suddenly gave 
up the struggle against the annexation of Bosnia, and explained 
this to the somewhat astonished Russian public by declaring the 
German Ambassador had threatened war in the event of further 
difficulties being laid in the way of the annexation. 

As a matter of fact, the Gennan Ambassador only said that 
an Austro-Scrvian war would be unavoidable if the Servian 
agitation were not stopped. And it is also a fact that Russia 
at that time was not only unable to offer resistance to the united 
German and Austrian arms, but that as a result of the Japanese 
war, she was still bleeding from a thousand wounds and could 
not have had a war at all. 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 49 

The Campaign of Agitation 

She, therefore, onl}' wanted to intimidate Austria-Hungary by 
the inauguration of a general European campaign of indignation 
and by inciting the Serbs and Montenegrins. She hoped to 
be able to force the revocation of a measure the only purpose of 
which it was, as is well known, formally to accentuate an actual 
condition existing since the year of 1878, that is, for thirty years. 
This condition had been brought about with the consent of the 
whole of Europe, and conferred the blessings of a constitutional 
life upon the two provinces thus far under military administration. 

Iswolski'sdiplomatic intrigue thusendedin a complete failure, 
and has since been referred to by a prominent Russian pohtician 
as a "diplomatic Tshushima." Austria-Hungary, however, on 
this occasion again gave strikmg proof of her great love of peace. 
Although it was in her power to crush Servia, which had at first 
been stirred up by Russia with all her Pan-Slav art, and then 
in the decisive moment was left in the lurch, the Monarchy con- 
tented herself with a declaration of the Servian Government 
whereby the latter recognized the annexation of Bosnia, and 
promised tt) refrain forever from agitating in the southern Slavic 
provinces of Austria-Hungary. 

The Austro-Hungarian Government pursued this course de- 
spite violent opposition of the public opinion of the country; 
but she wanted to give further proof that the lust for territorial 
expansion ascribed to her by politicians of the Entente was far 
from her thoughts, and that she was guided by only one object, 
to have order within the borders of the Monarchy and to secure 
her people the blessings of peace. 

It depended only upon St. Petersburg whether the Serbs 
would keep their solemn promise or would continue to indulge 
further in the most insolent agitation in the Monarchy's southern 
parts. For it hardly recjuires special mention that Servia, which, 
compared to Austria-Hungary, is, in a military, poUtical, and 
economical sense, so very much inferior, would not have per- 
mitted herself to provoke us, particularly after the bitter experi- 
ence of the crisis incident to Bosnia's annexation, had she not 
been specially encouraged to do so by Russia. 

The Plot Develops 

The year of iqo8 already gave us a fcjretaste of the further 
development of this question, which has now given occasion to 



so AUSTRIA HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

the greatest and bloodiest war of the world. It was on December 
25, 1908, when Iswolski grasped the opportunity to lay before 
the Duma the plans of the Russian foreign policy. As early as 
that he already spoke of the necessity of a Balkan alliance, of the 
federation, particularly, of the Slavish Balkan States for pro- 
tection against a further expansion of Austria-Hungary toward 
the southeast, whereby the political ecjuilibrium of Europe would 
be upset according to the Russian conception. In the hubbub 
of the diplomatic and publicist struggle then being carried on 
about the Bosnian question, this question, at least in public, was 
paid little attention. 

It, however, soon proved to be of great importance, and the 
Russian policy, notwithstanding the recent diplomatic defeats, 
still continued to be imbued with the sole thought: to make new 
enemies for Austria-Hungary, in order to increase the military 
might of the Entente by enlisting new friends who could gain 
territory by the Monarchy's collapse. In other words, if pos- 
sible, to form a Balkan block with its face against Austria- 
Hungary, the encircling of the Monarchy was thereby almost 
accomphshed. It was only necessary to win over Italy and 
Rumania, and then it was possible, according to the hopes 
cherished in St. Petersburg, safely to deal a death-blow to the 
ancient, venerable Empire on the Danube. This completed, there 
stood nothing more in the way of the boundless and almost patho- 
logic lust for expansion of the Muscovite. The small Slates which 
would have to be set up would naturally be unable to offer resist- 
ance to Russia, and even strong Germany, standing alone and 
surrounded on all sides by enemies, could no longer have halted 
the Pan-Slav impulse for expansion. 

The Pan-Slavs industriously labored in the sense of Iswolski's 
speech of December 25, 1908. It is true the latter had to leave 
his ministerial post in April, 1909, and to proceed as Ambas- 
sador to Paris, where he successfully influenced the French press, 
which is so very servile to Russia. 

Sasanow Continues the Plot 

His successor at St. Petersburg was Sasanow, who, though 
employing other means and using other methods, was in the 
main led by the same ideas. He, too, considered his foremost 
task the destruction of Austria-Hungary, upon the ruins of 
which the Russian world-empire should be erected. The idea o£ 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 51 

the Balkan Slav alliance was, therefore, naturally also most 
laboriously supported by Sasanow. All means were employed 
to bring about this alliance, which in the event of a war against 
the central Powers would secure to Russia, according to her 
figures, an auxiliary force of 700,000 to 800,000 men. It would 
lead too far if I should wish to cover the details of this diplomatic 
campaign of Russia. I shall, therefore, content myself with stating 
that after protracted efforts a Serbo-Bulgarian alhance was at 
last successfully brought about on February 29, 191 2. It re- 
ceived the official title of a defensive alliance. The two Slavic 
Balkan States were to succor each other in the event of an 
attack from a third part)-. 

The alliance was primarily directed against Austria-Hungary, 
and was in the course of 191 2 supplemented by various additions. 
It contains among other thmgs the well-known provision that 
in the event of an attack from Austria-Hungarj' upon Servia, 
Bulgaria be compelled to furnish the latter an army of 200,000 
men. 

Russia's relation to this alhance is clearly defined by the 
statement of a Russian diplomat, made in July, 191 2, that Russia 
is proud that this alliance was brought about upon Russia's 
initiation and under her patronage. The almost too bold hopes 
that were attached to this alliance were, however, not to be 
reaUzed. 

Austria-Hungary, fully aware of the danger wloich the success 
of the Russian plan would mean to the Monarchy, was on her 
guard, and undertook all diplomatic means to break through the 
net of intrigue spun against her. In this instance, too, she held 
fast to the basic principle of her pohcy of opposing by dip- 
lomatic, that is, peaceable means, the ever-recurring Balkan 
crises, though there was then as httle lack of Russian and Ser^^an 
provocation as at the time of the annexation crisis. 

Forming the Balkan Alliance 

As is well known, the Balkan aUiance was brought about 
at a time when Turkey was at war with Italy on the occasion of 
the occupation of Tripoli by Italian troops. Turkey's dignity 
suffered fresh wounds by the impending loss of another province, 
with the result that the plot arranged by the Russians with the 
Slavic alliance did not adhere exactly to the march route pre- 
scribed for it by its mighty northern protector. 



52 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

The huul-hungr)' middle Balkan States soon joined the Serbo- 
Bulgarian alliance. Not only the firebrand Montenegro, the army 
of which is supported by Russia; Greece, too, became a member 
of the Balkan alliance. This non-Slavic country did not want 
to let an opportunity slip by, either, to particij)ate with the other 
Balkan peoples in the driving out of Turkey from Europe and to 
increase her territory at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. 
The edge of the Balkan alliance was directed, contrary to the 
original desire of its Russian creator, more and more against 
Turkey. 

At the fall of 1912, the Balkan War broke out, the inost im- 
portant occurrences and results of which are well known to all. 
Turkey lost the greater part of her European possessions; all 
Balkan States received considerable increase in territory; but 
the Balkan aUiance, brought about with so much effort on the 
part of Russia, also lay dead on the blood-soaked battle-field. 
The allied Servians and Bulgarians, who had been victorious 
against Turkey, turned, in the summer of 1913, their arms against 
each other, and, due to Russia's support, Servia triumphed over 
Bulgaria, which was much superior in military efficiency. 

Russia's attitude during the entire war was ver}- characteristic 
of the aim which she has not lost sight of for a moment since 
the defeats in IManchuria, and wliich, it caimot be mentioned 
often and emphaticall}- enough, consisted in the main of miti- 
gating the discomfiture suffered in the Far East by overriding 
Austria-Hungary, by successes in the Balkans, and opening of 
the road to Constantinople. St. Petersburg this time did not 
want to repeat the mistake made against Japan, which consisted 
of her precipitating a daring war-adventure unprepared. Im- 
mense sums of money, readily placed at her disposal by her 
French ally, were now spent year after year for miUtary pur- 
poses; the number of recruits was increased; war stores of all 
sorts were provided in a manner liitherto unknown in Russia; 
Pan-Slav agitators, who furnished Russia's so-called public 
opinion in connection with the immense war preparations 
secretly made by the Russian Government, were again received 
with good grace. 

Renewed Russian Machinations 

And, not satisfied with the increase and feverish building up 
of her own forces, further allies in the Balkans were looked for. 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 53 

Though the Balkan alUance, as aheady stated, proceeded against 
Turkey and not against Austria-Hungary, yet St. Petersburg 
hoped to render inseparable the bonds uniting the Balkan peoples 
by the blood shed in common struggles and to make the Balkan 
peoples aUies of Russia and of the Triple Entente for all time. 
And during the entire Balkan "War, Russia did not fail to offer the 
Balkan alhes proofs of her sympathy and to make them under- 
stand that they could depend upon the most far-reaching sup- 
port of the Russian Anny not only against Turkey. 

On the same day that war broke out by Montenegro's declara- 
tion of war upon Turkey, Russia mobilized 500,000 men on the 
Austrian border. The entire French and Pan-Slav press sang 
h}nnns of praise for the Balkan alHance, day after day, and as 
compensation for their heroism gave them prospects of territorial 
expansion at the expense of Austria-Hungary, whose destruction 
would follow that of Turkey. 

In the first place, these alluring promises were, of course, 
meant for Servia and Montenegro. The howHngs of joy in 
Russia, England, and France over the prospect that in the coming 
great war the brave Balkan warriors would struggle side by side 
with the armies of the Triple Entente were positively definite. 
The Austro-Hungarian Army would thereby be bound up against 
the Balkans to a great extent, and could only dispatch against 
Russia meagre forces, which would simply be swept away by 
the Czar's milhons of men. And Germany could then not with- 
stand the united English-Russian-French forces. 

The bowlings of the combined Russian and French press be- 
came worse and worse; the Pro-Slav meetings arranged in all the 
larger cities of Russia by Brobrinski and associates increased, 
and veritable orgies of joy were indulged in over the impending 
collapse of Austria-Hungary, upon whose ruling statesmen the 
meanest insults were heaped. 

This anti-Austrian agitation was by no means restricted 
to the irresponsible politicians, instigated by the Russian Gov- 
ernment; but Russian diplomats also stirred Servia and Mon- 
tenegro to hatred against Austria-Hungary. In this Mr. Hart- 
wig, the Russian Minister at Belgrade, excelled, in that he 
openly preached war against Austria-Hungary, whose Army 
he alleged was in a state of development, and thus unequal to a 
more important test of endurance. The sooner a blow was struck 
against Austria-Hungary the better. In view of this shameless 



54 AUSTRIA HUNGARY AND I'HE WAR 

agitation even the blind began to see clearly, and the feeling 
that Russia was a deadly enemy gradually became the conviction 
with Austria-Hungary. Exasperation at the ceaseless Russian 
intrigues grew steadily. 

Austria-Hungary Still Patient 

Austria-Hungary was, of course, compelled to answer the 
Russian mobilization on the Austrian border by gathering a 
sufhcient number of troops in Galicia, and measures of pro- 
tection were also taken against Servia, whose officers already 
then expressed themselves most provokingly about the im- 
pending war against Austria-Hungary. But in her linn deter- 
mination to persist to the uttermost limit of patience, and if at 
all possible to preserve the peace of Europe, the Austro-Hungarian 
Government diti not permit itself to be disturbed even by these 
fresh provocations. It permitted the war occurrences in the 
Balkans to take their free course, and recognized, before all other 
great Powers, that the status quo in Turkey could not be withheld 
in view of the successes of the Balkan allies. But it wanted ecjual 
treatment of all Balkan peoples, and demanded that the Alba- 
nians should not be denied the enjoyment of a political autonomy, 
that the principle so loudly proclaimed by the waning States 
themselves, "The Balkans for the Balkan peoples," should not 
be modified to the detriment of the Albanians. This absolutely 
justified attitude of Austria-Hungary led up not only to pro- 
tracted and weary diplomatic struggles, but also resulted in the 
end in the collapse of Serbo-Bulgarian friendship. 

Servia ha\-ing been prevented from extending her territory 
to the Albanian coast, now demanded from Bulgaria a modifica- 
tion of the jointly agreed-upon plan of dividing Macedonia, but 
promptly received a negative answer at Sophia. Both parties 
turned to St. Petersburg for protection. And the latter at first 
was greatly embarrassed. For the plan of dividing Macedonia 
between Servda and Bulgaria had been brought about with the 
co-operation of Russia and Bulgaria, which is less spnpathetic 
to the Russians, and was altogether in her right when she asked 
from Servia the simple fulfilment of her treaty obligations. 
However, as is well known, such trifling scruples are pretty easily 
dismissed from one's mind in St. Petersburg. 



AUSTRIA-HUxNGARY AND THE WAR 55 

The Second Balkan War 

Russia, of course, did not bring about the Balkan alliance in 
the interest of Bulgaria, or the liberation of the Balkan Christians 
from the Turkish yoke, but exclusively in the interest of Russian 
lust for territorial expansion, into whose service the Balkan allies 
were to be impressed at the right moment. But for this the 
Serbs seemed to be more complacent than the Bulgarians, who 
have no co-nationals in Austria-Hungary, and for that reason 
have exhibited an inclination to maintain friendly relations with 
the dual Monarchy. According to Russian conception, however, 
this is a capital offense wliich must not go unpunished. Bulgaria, 
therefore, was directed to accede to Servia's wishes. Whenever 
Servia should at last incorporate the southern Slavish provinces 
of Austria-Hungary, she would return to Bulgaria those parts 
of Macedonia which are inhabited by Bulgarians. 

Sophia, however, remained defiant. The Serbo-Bulgarian War 
broke out, and Russia did not shrink from inciting the Ruma- 
nians and Turks against Bulgaria in order to punish her for her 
disobedience. That the Greeks would join Servia was to be 
expected, as they had no understanding with Bulgaria regarding 
the future Grteco-Bulgarian boundary-Une, and, therefore, 
grasped with both hands the opportunity to be able to dictate 
her own terms also to Bulgaria, pressed from all sides. The en- 
circhng of Slavic Bulgaria, thus superintended by Russia, be- 
came a complete one. Thanks to the diplomatic and moral 
support of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria was spared the worst, but 
it had to put up with a cession of territory to Rumania and the 
renunciation of the greatest part of Macedonia in favor of Servia. 
Russia showed once more how she protects her Slav brothers 
when they undertake to play their own and not Russian poHtics, 
or when they go so far as to refuse to look upon Austria-Hungary 
as their deadly enemy. 

Russia had a treaty with Bulgaria which imposed the duty 
upon the former to protect her against the Rumanian invasion, 
but did not hesitate for a moment to incite against her this same 
Rumania against wliich she had entered into a treaty with Bul- 
garia when Sophia failed to obey orders. 

Getting Ready for the War 

But all this does not change the fact that, thanks to Austro- 
Hungarian diplomacy, the Balkan alliance lay on the ground, 



56 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

wounded to death, unci that but a i)art of the brave Balkan 
warriors, that is, the Servian arm}', remained at the disposal of 
the Triple Entente for the great war of the future. Now Russian 
politics set the machinery in motion in Belgrade in order to bring 
about the explosion for which St. Petersburg had been longing, 
all the more as Russia now felt jirejjared from a military point 
of view by offering efficient opposition to all emergencies. Hart- 
wig, the Russian Minister at Belgrade, labored in this sense in- 
defatigably, and the ever-increasing Greater Servian agitation 
in the southern provinces of Austria-Hungary was in the first 
place his work. Pasic, the Servian Prime Minister, in those days, 
appeared gaily with his bundle of papers before his Russian 
E.xcellency in order to report most humbly to him and recei\e 
his commands. Nothing was done thereafter without consulting 
Hartwig, and Belgrade was more and more reduced to the role 
of a Russian vassal. 

At the same time the waves of national frenzy in Ser\ia 
surged higher and higher, the Servian press assumed a more and 
more impertinent tone, and the agitation of the Servian societies 
knew no bounds. Hand in hand with tliis, there developed in 
Galicia a very extensive Russian system of espionage. There 
were times when for months twenty to thirty Russian spies were 
arrested in Galicia daily. The pohtical atmosphere became ever 
closer, and Austria-Hungary's pubhc opinion more and more 
stirred up. 

Twice — in 1909 and 1913 — Emperor Francis Joseph's unshak- 
able love of peace succeeded in dispelling the danger of war. In 
1909, when Austria-Hungary exercised far-reaching indulgence 
with respect to Servia, who was at that time left entirely to her 
tender mercies; and in 1913, when, by means of her wise and 
cautious diplomacy in dealing with the constant provocations, 
and her clever strategic moves, she successfully foiled the 
Russian intrigues. Calculating on the active support of England 
and France and relying upon the bUnd obedience of the Servian 
vassal, it was decided in St. Petersburg to employ extreme meas- 
ures by which to offend Austria-Hungary's pride to such an 
extent as to render impossible every other kind of settlement, 
except by force of arms. 

The Assassination 

As you know, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was 
perpetrated on June 28th of this year at Sarajevo; you also know 



AUSTRIA-HUNGx\RY AND THE WAR 57 

that even before this occurrence the Russian army was mobilized. 
If there existed the least doubt about this, it was completely dis- 
spelled by tlie statements of Russian soldiers who became Austrian 
prisoners of war, and confessed thai they had been ready as early 
as May of this year. It is no longer a secret that the perpetrators 
of the crime confessed during the judicial investigation at Sara- 
jevo that they had been incited to the murder by Servian officers, 
that bombs and revoh^ers had been shipped to them from Scrvia, 
and that they had been instructed by Serbs in the use of these 
murderous weapons. I believe that I have also succeeded in 
proving, by my foregoing statements, that Belgrade is nothing 
but a Russian dependency, that the Servian Government officials 
do not undertake anything without the consent of the Russian 
Cabinet. All these facts, however, speak volumes, and shed such 
a glaring light upon the assassination at Sarajevo that further 
comment is hardly required. 

The assassination of a prince of the House of Hapsburg found 
no condemnation in St. Petersburg; strictly monarchical Russia 
felt only sympathy for poor little Servia, whose, sovereignty was 
menaced by the Austro-Hungarian demands for satisfaction. 
And Austria-Hungary was given to understand that Russia 
would not remain indifferent if her wishes with respect to the 
sparing of Servia should be disregarded. Expressed in plain 
language, this means that if Austria-Himgary should venture 
not to trvist blindly to the Servian promises so often given 
and never kept, Russia would not hesitate to take drastic 
measures against her. To tliis only one answer could be expected, 
and the whole of Europe is now ablaze. Amid the wild yells of 
the gigantic war we hear Iswolski's boasting cry: This is my war! 

If I spoke about Servia more than you perhaps desired, it 
was certainly not because I ascribed imdue importance to this 
little country. Not by any means. I have referred to Servia only 
inasmuch as was necessary to explain the underhand services 
which she rendered to her Russian protector, who considered it 
beneath her dignity to perform such actions herself. Without 
knowledge and understanding of those services however, Rus- 
sia's activities could not correctly be judged. 

I still owe you the explanation, why the Russian Government 
and Russian public opinion, which naturally was under the Gov- 
ernment's influence, desired this war. There are several reasons 
for this. As already stated, a strong Austria-Hungarj' interferes 



58 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

with the Russian plan of cxjiansion in the Near East. But tJie 
haired cigaiiisl the dual Monarchy is primarily due to the fact thai 
tlie latter extends political freedom to all her nationalities, and in 
this respect would make no distinction as to the Ruthenians residing 
in Eastern Galicia. 

The Ruthenians 

The majority of the Ruthenians, upward of thirt}' millions, 
reside, however, in Southern Russia. The fear that the freedom 
of their co-nationals in Austria might infect the Ruthenians of 
Russia, who, like all other nationalities, are being oppressed by 
the Czar's rule, and that an attempt of emancipation may in time 
endanger the idea of a United Greater Russian Empire has 
prompted Russia to act as she did. The greatest Slav Empire 
resents the fact that Austria-Hungary does not gag the Ruthe- 
nians, a Slav nation, according to Russian methods. Such is, in 
fact, the love of the Russians for their Slav brothers. This makes 
it clear why those non-Russian Slavs who, like the Poles and Ruthe- 
nians, were unfortunate enough to get into close contact with the Rus- 
sians, are possessed of an ineradicable hatred against Ihem. 

Next to the Russian lust of expansion in the Near East, and 
to Petrograd's fear of a Ruthenian irredenta in Southern Russia, 
there is still another reason for the lack of love toward Austria- 
Hungary in the vast dominions of the Czar. Its fidelity to our 
ally, Gemiany, which, on account of her ever-increasing pros- 
perity, is also a thorn in Russia's side. The strengthening of her 
position by a strong Austrian ally had the effect of pricking the 
nerves of the Russian men in power, whose desire it is to dominate 
Europe without hindrance from uncomfortable neighbors. 

Aside of these concrete reasons, however, one must not dis- 
regard the general desire of territorial expansion of the Russians, 
if one wishes to judge their attitude before the present war com- 
menced. This desire, ever since Russian history exists, has been 
distinguished by a most remarkable lack of moderation. Every 
Czar considered it his honorable duty to extend the limits of his 
Empire. To the present ruler of all the Russians this distinction 
had so far been denied; his war against Japan caused his country 
loss of territory and dignity. 

Austria-Hungary and the Poles and Ruthenians 

In the bloody war forced upon us we struggle not only for 
our existence, but also for the freedom of those nations which, 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 



59 



like Poles and Ruthonians, according to tlic plans of St. Peters- 
burg, are to be brought under the Russian yoke. The awful truth 
of a portentous time meets at our gates, and in the world-historic 
war raging over Europe, Austria-Hungary struggles in the north 
as well as in the south against a numerically superior foe. But 
our troops tight with death-defying courage. Every member of 
the army, down to the last private, is possessed of the innermost 
feeling that he fights for a noble cause against a most hated 
enemy who does not shrink at any means to crush Austria- 
Hungary. The hatred produced by the Russian intrigues, which 
have been so zealously pursued during the last few years, matured 
the conviction in the humblest fighter that Russia is an inexorable 
and implacable enemy by whose discomfiture alone peace and 
calm could come to our Monarchy. 

The issue of the struggle of the two central European Powers 
against the English-Russian-French-Belgian-Japanese-Servian- 
Montcnegrin alliance is a secret of the future. But even the 
envious cannot deny recognition of the feats thus far accom- 
plished by the two States that had been attacked from so many 
sides and by such a number of enemies. 

Once before the two allied States stood all alone against all 
Europe. This was on the occasion of the Bosnian annexation 
crisis. At that time it amounted only to a diplomatic tussle, 
out of which Austria-Hungar}^ and Germany, in spite of general 
ill will, came forth victorious. We are imbued with a firm con- 
viction that in the present struggle, too, waged by the two 
Empires this time with fire and sword against an apparently 
more powerful alliance, final victory will be on the side of honor 
and truth. 



THE JEWS AS AN ISSUE IN THE WAR 

The vital interests of the Jewish race are involved in the 
great struggle which is now going on between Russia and the 
Germanic-Hungarian alliance on the Eastern battle-front of the 
nations, the borderland between Europe and Asia. Even the 
most superficial glance at the relative condition of the Jews in 
Russia and in Austria discloses differences which tell a graphic 
stor}' of conflicting civilizations, of clashing racial ideals. 

The Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievitch, commander-in- 
chief of the Russian forces, has recently given prominence to the 
Jew as an issue in the conflict by a proclamation setting forth 
vague promises of a reversal of the poUcy heretofore pursued by 
the Russian Empire in the treatment of its Israelitic subjects. 
Austria-Hungary has issued no such manifesto; but the status 
of the Jews within the borders of the dual Monarchy is strik- 
ingly suggested by the gibe. "King of the Jews," applied to 
the venerable Emperor Francis Joseph throughout the Russian 
Arm\- since the war began, and authentically credited to the 
Grand Duke Nicholas himself. 

The persecution of the Jews in Russia, it must be remembered, 
dates back to the earliest phase of the history of Judaism under 
the Czars. The early restrictive measures applied to the Jewish 
people, which gradually herded millions of individuals of a pro- 
gressive and energetic race into the Pale, on the outskirts of 
Russia proper and within the zone inhabited by Poles, constitute 
a remarkable chapter in the history of civilization. In quarter- 
ing the Jewish population upon conquered Poland, Russian 
statecraft accomplished the double purpose of weakening the 
PoHsh cause by introducing a strong non-Polish element into the 
heart of Poland, and of reducing the Jews to a pitiable economic 
condition by crowding them into an impoverished region. 

Life within the Pale, amid poverty, degradation, and a 
hopeless inability to achieve any sort of material well-being, con- 
stitutes a gloomy page torn from the annals of media'valism. 
But intolerable as this existence is, there is no hint in the Grand 
Duke's proclamation that it will be terminated by the conferring 
upon Jews of the right of travel and residence throughout 

(iO 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 6i 

Russia. On the contrary, through the present reign occasional 
relaxations of the restrictive regulation ha\e been checked with 
the utmost vigor. 

Indeed, the present reign has been in many respects extremely 
reactionary in its treatment of the Jewish problem, despite the 
pretensions of the Czar and his Government to enhghtened views 
and purposes. The pogrom of Kishinef! is rather a t>'pical tlian 
an exceptional incident of a much-lauded regime of tolerance 
and constitutional development. The activities of the Black 
Hundreds, wliich caused a wail of despair to go up from Jewish 
communities in Russia; repressive measures designed to exclude 
Jews rigidly from participation in corporations, and the revi\'al 
of the long-discredited charges of ritual murder against Jews are 
not incidents of the dark ages, but events of to-daj- — the handi- 
work of the administration which now is appeahng to the sym- 
pathies of the civilized world by a promise of equality for all 
subjects of the Russian Czar, including the long-oppressed Jews. 

Enough has been said and written about pogroms in the past 
few years to impress upon the public mind sometliing of the hor- 
ror which the word represents. Enough, also, has been written 
about the circumstances under which these pogroms have taken 
place to convince the universal mind that, if the Russian Govern- 
ment did not actually promote, it certainly connived at the 
ferocity of the anti- Jewish mobs. The anti-Semitic attitude of 
the Government has been indicated convincingly by the active 
part it has taken in promoting judicial attempts to prove that 
Jews murder Christian youths for ritual purposes and in admin- 
istrative measures for the exclusion of Jews from the commercial 
and industrial life of the country. 

The Youdhinski case, which was the subject of international 
wonderment two years ago, and the failure of the prosecution 
to convict the Jew, Beihss, of ritual murder, are comparatively 
fresh in mind. It is not gejierally realized, however, that the 
attempt to prove a long-exploded charge against the Jewish 
rehgion was not a minor enterprise, undertaken by local author- 
ities, but had its inception in the ministry in St. Petersburg itself. 
Even the Duma, the symbol and expression of the Russian 
movement toward modernism, seriously discussed the subject of 
ritual murders and, by a majority vote, appointed a committee 
to examine the library of the St. Petersburg Ecclesiastical Acad- 
emy in search of proof of the allegation that Israelites kill Chris- 



62 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 

tian children in order thai the\' might obtain their i>lood for 
sacramental uses! 

The latest, and in some ways the most signilicant, form of 
anti-Jewish legislation in Russia was put in effect only last 
spring, when the Ministry of Finance issued an order forbidding 
the presence of Jews in the directorates of corporations under a 
Russian charter or with Russian headquarters. No explanation 
was offered for this extraordinary regulation, but it was rigidly 
enforced, despite the energetic protest of the St. Petersburg 
Bourse, which in vain pointed out that the restriction at the 
outset exerted a disastrous effect upon Russian financial interests. 

Not only in the mass have the Jews been subjected to almost 
incredible hardships and injustices under the present Czar, but 
a systematic persecution of individuals has been carried on 
throughout the Empire. The recent action of the Imperial 
authorities in depriving of civil rights four hundred Jews who 
had woft the jealously guarded right of residence beyond the 
Pale, is typical and not exceptional. These Jews were placed 
under the official ban because they bore Russian-given names — ■ 
an offense punishable with severe penalties under a pseudo- 
constitutional regime ! 

And now, as during the sinister days of the war with Japan, 
the Russian autocracy is seeking to strengthen its internal and 
international position by promises of sweeping reforms for its 
Jewish subjects, with the rest of the races under the Romanoff 
scepter. Do the Jews of Russia give the Grand Duke credit for 
a serious intention to carry out his pledges? Or do they realize 
that anti-Semitism is too deeply grafted upon the Russian char- 
acter, thanks to a practically uninterrupted official campaign 
against the Jewish race, to make possible any amelioration of the 
condition of the Israelites within the Empire? The continuous 
stream of refugees who, in the initial stages of the war, fled in 
panic from the Russian armies into the interior of Austria, con- 
stitutes a sufficient answer to these questions. And the judgment 
of these refugees was entirely justified by the reign of excesses 
which signalized the first advance of the Russians across Poland 
and into Galicia. 

On this phase of the operations on the Eastern front the fol- 
lowing dispatch addressed to the American Jewish committee of 
New York, from Jewish sources in Austria, under date of Nov- 
ember 13, throws a lurid light: 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE WAR 6 



J 



"The Jewish member of ParHament, Mr. Reizes, requests lo 
publish under his responsibility, in American papers, the follow- 
ing news: 'The merchant Trautner, who fled from Lemberg on 
October lo, reports that the Russians on September 29, started, 
without any provocation, a pogrom. Soldiers shot Jews, fourteen 
dead, thirty-eight wounded. Rabbi Brande dragged along the 
streets. Prayers in celebration of Yom Kippur forbidden. Jew- 
ish dwellings looted, stores plundered. In other cities of Galicia 
and Bukowina, Russians likewise committed murders, cruelties, 
violations on women. Jewish population'sdespairindescribable.' " 

Such was the attitude of the Russian Government toward the 
Jewish population before the outbreak of the war, and such is 
the treatment accorded to the Jews by the Russian "army of 
liberation" during the course of the conflict. 

The status of the Jews in Austria-Hungary ofters a striking 
contrast to this gloomy picture of administrative oppression and 
arbitrary abuse. Under the rule of the Hapsburgs the Israelites 
enjoy full civil rights. They are subjected to no special legisla- 
tion, and they stand on a footing of exact equality with the other 
races in the dual Monarchy. Tliis state of affairs is not the out- 
come of a sudden necessity. It has been accomplished by gov- 
ernmental agencies through a series of years and in spite of local 
prejudices. Not only is the police power employed to give full 
protection to Jews against sporadic annoyance, but it is the fixed 
pohcj' of the Empire to give active encouragement to the devel- 
opment of the race in educational, religious, and social directions. 
The dual Monarchy knows no ethnical barriers, no religious 
disqualifications. 

The amelioration of the condition of the Jews in Austria 
began in the eighteenth century, under the enlightened rule of 
the Emperor Joseph II., and the removal of the last of the dis- 
abilities under which they labored became a certainty with the 
opening of the reign of Francis Joseph II. In 1848, at the initi- 
ation of the new regime, the right to the free exercise of their 
religion was granted to the Jews, and they were freed from 
special taxation. Jews were appointed to professorships in the 
national universities, and the first Parliament convoked con- 
tained a Jewish representation. In 1S60 liberal legislation gave 
to the Jews the right to hold property in most of the provinces, 
and the constitution of 1867 abolished the last of the religious 
disabilities. 



64 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND IHE WAR 

For at least two generations past the Jews have played an 
important part in the political life of the country. The Emperor, 
in carrying out his liberal policy, has called upon the Israelitic 
race for assistance in every phase of national life in the Reichs- 
rath and the Upper House, in the Army, the civil administration, 
and the educational system. Jewish names figure frequently in 
the highest j)ositions in the Empire. Baron Anselm von Roths- 
child was called to the House of Lords. The late Professor Siiss 
for many j'cars was President of the Imperial Academy of Science. 
General Auspitz is one of the many Jews who have achieved 
distinction in the profession of arms. In finance, in the ranks 
of exclusive society, in the lughest circles of industrial enter- 
prise, are to be found Jews, such as Baron Springer, who, in 
addition to being an industrial power, is a member of the most 
e.\clusive club in Vienna. Count von Aehrenthal, the late Min- 
ister of Foreign AtTairs, was of Jewish origin. 

Not only to the emerged individuals does the rule of unlimited 
opportunity apply, but its workings reach the very roots of Jew- 
ish society; for the Government activel}- supports Jewish schools 
by the paxTnent of the teachers' salaries. 

The Emperor Francis Joseph has alwajs taken a keen inter- 
est in the social development of the Jews; in their educational 
and charitable organizations. Only last year the aged sovereign 
to whom the rude wits of the Russian camp have applied the 
title of "King of the Jews" as a fling of opprobrium, endeared 
himself still more to his Jewish subjects b}' granting a site for a 
great hospital for Jewish children and by paying out of the pri\-y 
purse 400,000 crowns to meet the deficit in the construction of a 
Jewish gymnasium in Budapest. 

In every respect, both the Emperor and the entire machinery 
of State have atTordcd to the Jew every protection and e\er>' 
encouragement in the achievement of his racial destinies on a 
footing of equality with the German, the Slav, and the Magyar. 
It is no wonder, then, that in the present conflict, not onl\- the 
Jews of the dual Monarchy but those of surrounding countries, 
where their race is oppressed, have raUied to the defense of Austria 
in her struggle against the forces of reaction. 



IISRARY OF CONGRESS 

I II III II I nil III II III II 

018 497 560 9 • 



